NASA Hubble Images: High-Tech Space Camera Captures Stunning Photo of Spiral Galaxy 120 Million Light-Years Away

The latest NASA Hubble image shows a captivating look at a spiral galaxy 120 million light-years away from Earth.

The said spiral galaxy found should be able to help astronomers understand how the universe quickly develops.

NASA Hubble Images: Spiral Galaxy Mrk 1337

In a recent Twitter post by NASA, it showed the magnificent image of a spiral galaxy, which was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope.

To provide further information, the NASA Hubble image showed the spiral galaxy Mrk (Markarian) 1337, which is around 120 million light-years distant from Earth in the constellation Virgo, according to the space agency.

In relation to this, the spiral galaxy was photographed by Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 at a broad range of ultraviolet, visible and infrared wavelengths, yielding the beautifully detailed image.

This finding is part of a broader plan to help astronomers understand how the universe develops. These were proposed by Adam Riess, who shared the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics with Saul Perlmutter and Brian Schmidt for their contributions to the discovery of the universe's rapid expansion.

NASA Hubble Camera

To provide further information on the camera used to capture the image, the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), which was installed by astronauts during Hubble Servicing Mission 4 in 2009, is carrying on the pioneering heritage of past Hubble cameras, per NASA.

As the year goes by, the said NASA Hubble camera had several crucial upgrades that are extending the telescope's adventure of exploration.

WFC3 investigates a wide range of objects and processes, ranging from young and far-off galaxies to much closer star systems, as well as things inside our solar system and exoplanets.

It expands Hubble's capabilities not just by looking farther into the cosmos, but also by delivering pictures in three-wide sections of the spectrum: ultraviolet (UV), visible light, and near-infrared (NIR).

Spiral Galaxy

Spiral galaxies are named from the spiral shape of their orbits, per Cool Cosmos. The stars, gas, and dust in a spiral galaxy are grouped in spiral arms that extend outward from the galaxy's core.

Brittanica added that normal spirals and barred spirals are the two types of spiral galaxies. The arms of regular spirals emerge from the nucleus, while the barred spirals have a brilliant linear feature that crosses the nucleus with the arms unwinding from the ends of the bar.

Furthermore, spiral galaxies are classified into three categories based on how closely their spiral arms are pierced. The said categories are "Sa," "Sb," and "Sc."

To further emphasize, S stands for standard spirals, whereas SB stands for barred spirals.

According to the size of the nucleus and the extent to which the spiral arms are coiled, each of these classes is subclassified into three categories. The lowercase letters a, b, and c stand for the three sorts.

The arms of Sa galaxies are very tightly wrapped around a bigger core center. Sc galaxies contain a smaller center and loosely wrapped arms. Sb, on the other hand, is in the middle with moderately wrapped arms surrounding a nucleus of average size.