The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope captured this stunning image of a barred spiral galaxy called NGC 4731.
This Hubble Space Telescope image shows NGC 4731, a barred spiral galaxy about 43 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. Image courtesy of NASA / ESA / Hubble / D. Thilker.
NGC 4731 It is located in the constellation Virgo, about 43 million light years from Earth.
Also known as IRAS 12484-0607, LEDA 43507, and UGCA 302, it is classified as a barred spiral galaxy.
“Barred spiral galaxies outnumber regular spiral and elliptical galaxies combined, making up about 60 percent of all galaxies,” the Hubble astronomers said.
“The bar-like structure we see is the result of the orbits of stars and gas in our galaxy aligning, forming dense regions where individual stars move in and out over time.”
“This is the same process that maintains the spiral arms of our galaxy, but in the case of barred galaxies it's a bit more mysterious. As spiral galaxies mature they seem to form a bar at their centre, which explains the large number of bar structures we see today. But later on the bar can also be lost if the accumulated mass along it becomes unstable.”
“The orbital patterns and gravitational interactions of galaxies support the bar-like structure of the galaxy, transporting matter and energy and promoting star formation.”
“Indeed, the observing program studying NGC 4731 seeks to investigate this flow of matter within the galaxy,” they added.
beginning discovered Discovered on April 25, 1784 by German-born British astronomer William Herschel, NGC 4731 has a diameter of about 80,000 light years.
With LEDA 43526 Galaxy, Forms Holm 472, a pair of interacting galaxies.
NGC 4731 is also a member of the NGC 4697 galaxy group. Located Near the Virgo Supercluster.
“Beyond the bar, NGC 4731's spiral arms extend far beyond the scope of this close-up Hubble image,” the astronomers said.
“The galaxy's elongated arms are thought to be the result of gravitational interactions with other nearby galaxies in the Virgo Cluster.”
The color image of NGC 4731 includes ultraviolet, near-infrared, and optical observations. Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3).
Six filters were used to sample different wavelengths, and color was generated by assigning a different hue to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter.
“The richness of color reveals the galaxy's swirling gas clouds, dark dust bands, bright pink star-forming regions, and most notably, its long, luminous arms stretching out behind it,” the researchers said.
Source: www.sci.news
