The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken a picture of the low-surface brightness spiral galaxy NGC 4571.
This Hubble image shows the spiral galaxy NGC 4571. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / J. Lee / PHANGS-HST Team.
NGC 4571 is located approximately 60 million light-years away in the constellation of Coma Berenices.
Otherwise known as IC 3588, LEDA 42100 or UGC 7788, this galaxy is classified as a low-surface brightness spiral galaxy.
“NGC 4571 is part of the Virgo cluster, which contains more than a thousand galaxies,” Hubble astronomers said.
“This cluster is in turn part of the larger Virgo supercluster, which also encompasses the Local Group which contains our Milky Way Galaxy.”
“Even larger than superclusters are galaxy filaments — the largest known structures in the Universe.”
The color image of NGC 4571 was made from separate exposures taken in the visible and ultraviolet regions of the spectrum with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3).
Several filters were used to sample various wavelengths. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter.
“This image comes from a large program of observations designed to produce a treasure trove of combined observations from two great observatories: Hubble and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA),” the researchers explained.
“ALMA is a vast telescope consisting of 66 high-precision antennas high in the Chilean Andes, which together observe at wavelengths between infrared and radio waves.”
“This allows ALMA to detect the clouds of cool interstellar dust which give rise to new stars.”
“Hubble’s razor-sharp observations at ultraviolet wavelengths, meanwhile, allows us to pinpoint the location of hot, luminous, newly formed stars,” they added.
“Together, the ALMA and Hubble observations provide a vital repository of data to astronomers studying star formation, as well as laying the groundwork for future science with the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope.”
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