Hubble Spies a Spiral in the Water Snake

A spiral galaxy. It’s noticeably bright around the central region of its disk, then dims somewhat toward the edge where there are fewer stars. Two spiral arms circle through the disk and emerge beyond its edge, around the galaxy’s sides. Many pink spots of new star formation, as well as dark reddish strands of dust, cover the galaxy. The arms contain some speckled, blue patches containing hot stars.

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image of a vibrant spiral galaxy called NGC 5042 resides about 48 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Hydra (the water snake). The galaxy nicely fills the frame of this Hubble image, while a single, foreground star from the Milky Way shines with cross-shaped diffraction spikes near the galaxy’s … Continue reading Hubble Spies a Spiral in the Water Snake

NASA Science