Using its Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), the Hubble Space Telescope captured a stunning photo of a magnificent stretching spiral arm of the spiral galaxy located roughly 300 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Hydra.

spiral galaxy
(Photo : WikiImages/Pixabay)
spiral galaxy

Spiral Galaxy Seyfert

The spiral galaxy caught by the telescope is known as NGC 5495, and it is a Seyfert galaxy. This galaxy features very luminous cores, or active galactic nuclei, which are dominated by the electromagnetic radiation released by dust and gas. It was posted on ESA Hubble's Twitter account.

 

According to Wikipedia, along with quasars, Seyfert galaxies make up one of the two major groupings of active galaxies. They feature quasar-like nuclei with extremely bright surfaces and strong, high-ionization emission lines in their spectra; but unlike quasars, their host galaxies may be seen.

Ten percent of galaxies may be Seyfert galaxies, according to NASA. They fall under the category of active galaxies, which are galaxies with supermassive black holes at their centers that are accreting matter and emitting tremendous amounts of radiation as a result.

It was named after Carl K. Seyfert, an American astronomer who discovered them in 1944.

A Supermassive Blackhole

In order to locate supermassive black holes, astronomers go into the center parts of galaxies. It is difficult, though, because the brightness of galactic centers is affected by the light emitted by existing stars, star-formation regions, and materials falling into supermassive black holes.

Astronomers were able to separate the numerous sources of light at the heart of NGC 5495 using the Hubble's razor-sharp sensor. This enabled them to precisely weigh its enormous black hole.

Stellar Interlopers

In addition to NGC 5495, two star interlopers can be seen in this picture. One is located just beyond NGC 5495's core, and the other is prominently shown next to the galaxy. These objects, which are stars from our own Milky Way, are far closer to Earth than NGC 5495 despite being in the same general area of the sky. Diffraction spikes are arranged crosswise around the brilliant stars. These are optical imperfections brought on by the Hubble's interior structure interacting with starlight.

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Hubble Wide Field Camera 3

The capabilities of Hubble for observation are being considerably improved by WFC3. It offers better resolution across a larger field of vision than its predecessor. It provides performance over a broad spectrum of wavelengths that is comparable to that of the ACS instrument in terms of overall performance. The combination of an expanded waveband and an improved field of view result in a potent instrument.

The device has two channels: one for near infrared (NIR) and one for ultraviolet and visible light (UVIS). Solid-state devices serve as the detectors in both scenarios. A silicon-based CCD, like those used in digital cameras, is employed for the UVIS channel.

A 16 megapixel, high sensitivity, low noise array makes up the CCD on the WFC3. On the other hand, a one-megapixel array built of the rare element mercuric cadmium telluride (HgCdTe) is employed for the NIR channel. The performance of WFC3 over a wide range of wavelengths is provided by the combination of these two technologies.

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