Astronomers utilizing the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured breathtaking new images of the blue, compact dwarf galaxy Markarian 178.
This Hubble image showcases the blue compact dwarf galaxy Markarian 178. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / F. Annibali / S. Hon.
Markarian 178 is situated roughly 13 million light years away in the constellation Ursa Major.
This galaxy, commonly referred to as Mrk 178, LEDA 35684, and UGC 6541, spans a diameter of 5,700 light years.
“MRK 178 is one of over 1,500 Markarian galaxies,” stated Hubble astronomers.
“These galaxies are named after Benjamin Markarian, an Armenian astrophysicist who compiled a catalog of galaxies that exhibit unusual brightness in ultraviolet light.”
“While most galaxies appear blue due to a plethora of young, hot stars and minimal dust, Mrk 178 presents a reddish hue. This concentration of massive stars is particularly abundant in the brightest, reddish areas near the galaxy’s edge.”
“This azure nebula houses numerous unique entities known as Wolf Rayet stars.”
“A Wolf-Rayet star is a massive star whose atmosphere is expelled by intense stellar winds,” the astronomers clarified.
“Mrk 178 features such an abundance of Wolf-Rayet stars that vivid emission lines from the hot stellar winds of these stars are inscribed into the galaxy’s spectrum.”
“In this image, captured using some of Hubble’s specialized optical filters, ionized hydrogen and oxygen are notably represented as red in Mrk 178.”
“Massive stars transition into the Wolf-Rayet stage immediately before collapsing into a black hole or neutron star.”
“We understand that some event must have instigated Mrk 178’s recent surge in star formation, as Wolf-Rayet stars have lifespans of merely a few million years.”
“At first glance, it remains uncertain what is instigating this phenomenon. Mrk 178 does not appear to have any neighboring galaxies that could disrupt its gas and promote new star formation.”
“Instead, we hypothesize that either a gas cloud collided with Mrk 178, or that the gas was affected as the galaxy traversed through the intergalactic medium, energizing this small galaxy with waves of brilliant new stars.”
Source: www.sci.news
