This image captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope offers a fresh and detailed view of the star-filled spiral galaxy NGC 4571.
This Hubble image highlights NGC 4571, a spiral galaxy located about 60 million light-years away in the constellation Coma. Image credits: NASA / ESA / Hubble / F. Belfiore / J. Lee / PHANGS-HST team.
NGC 4571 is positioned 60 million light-years away in the constellation Taurus.
This galaxy was discovered by German-British astronomer William Herschel on January 14, 1787.
Also referred to as IC 3588, LEDA 42100, and UGC 7788, NGC 4571 is classified as a spiral galaxy with low surface brightness.
It belongs to the Virgo Cluster, which comprises over 1,000 galaxies.
This cluster is part of the more extensive Virgo supercluster, which encompasses a local group that includes our very own Milky Way galaxy.
“NGC 4571 captivates with its feather-like spiral structure and vibrant star clusters,” remarked Hubble astronomers regarding this new image.
“The galaxy’s dusty spiral arms are sprinkled with bright pink nebulae that contain massive young stars.”
“The star-forming clouds in this image are heated to about 10,000 K due to intense ultraviolet light from young stars at their centers, although stars form in much cooler conditions.”
“Stars emerge from giant molecular clouds that can span tens to hundreds of light-years, with temperatures only slightly above absolute zero.”
“The remarkable change from a frigid gas cloud to a blazing young star is driven by the immense gravitational force that compacts the gas into dense clumps within star-forming clouds.”
“As these clumps yield to gravity and collapse inward, they eventually reach sufficient heat and density to initiate nuclear fusion at their cores and begin to shine.”
“The luminous clouds depicted in this image enclose particularly massive stars that are hot enough to ionize the gas within their stellar nurseries.”
In 2022, the Hubble team captured intricate images of NGC 4571 as part of an observational initiative incorporating data from major observatories, including Hubble, NASA/ESA/CSA’s James Webb Space Telescope, and the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array.
“The newly released images today add data from a program aimed at understanding the impact of dust on observations of young stars obscured within their natal clouds,” the astronomers noted.
Source: www.sci.news
