A stunning new image taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope provides a detailed look at the spiral galaxy UGC 3478.
This Hubble image shows UGC 3478, a spiral galaxy located 128 million light-years away in the constellation of Camelopardalis. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / M. Koss / A. Barth.
UGC 3478 lies approximately 128 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Camelopardalis.
Also known as LEDA 19228, INTREF 304 or IRAS 06280+6342, it is classified as a Seyfert galaxy, a type of galaxy with an active galactic nucleus (AGN) at its core.
“Looking past its long spiral arms filled with stars and the dark threads of dust crossing it, your eye might be caught by the shining point at the center of UGC 3478,” the Hubble astronomers said.
“This point is the galaxy’s nucleus, and indeed there is something special about it: it is a growing giant black hole which astronomers call an AGN.”
“Like all such active galaxies, the brightness that you see here hides a supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy,” they added.
“A disk of gas spirals into this black hole, and as the material crashes together and heats up it emits very strong radiation.”
“The spectrum of this radiation includes hard X-ray emission, which clearly mark it out from the stars in the galaxy.”
“Despite the strong brightness of the compact central region, we can still clearly see the disk of the galaxy around it, which makes the galaxy a Seyfert galaxy.”
“Many active galaxies are known to astronomers at vast distances from Earth, thanks to the great brightness of their nuclei highlighting them next to other, dimmer galaxies.”
“At 128 million light-years from Earth, UGC 3478 is positively neighborly to us,” the astronomers said.
The new image of UGC 3478 is made up of observations from Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) in the near-infrared and optical parts of the spectrum.
Two filters were used to sample various wavelengths. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter.
“The data used to make this image comes from a Hubble survey of nearby powerful AGNs found in relatively high-energy X-rays, like this one, which it is hoped can help us to understand how the galaxies interact with the supermassive black holes at their hearts,” the researchers said.
Source : Breaking Science News