Astronomers and researchers have used the Hubble Space Telescope often in viewing space. Over the years it has become an invaluable tool in Astronomy as people continue to search for answers to space and its many mysteries. The Hubble telescope has also been recently used to look into the center of a spiral galaxy.
The Hubble Space telescope has looked into the center of NGC 247, according to NASA's official site. NGC 247 is a small spiral galaxy in the southern constellation of Cetus and is about 11 million lightyears away from the Earth.
What can be seen of the center of NGC 247 is a bright patch surrounded by stars, gas and dust as Phys Org reports. The dust is mostly residue left over from the galaxy's formation. The gas forms into bright knots, which is known as H II regions. These regions are mostly at the galaxy's arms and outer areas.
NGC 247 has a feature which makes it distinct from other galaxies. It has a void on the northern part of the disc. This void is a gap though there are still some stars in it. The stars in the void are mostly older stars which are fainter and much redder than other stars. Astronomers speculate that star development in the void has not been seen for about one billion years.
The Hubble Space Telescope has also been used on another galaxy recently. NGC 24 is about 25 million light years away in the constellation Sculptor. Images of NGC 24 show a galaxy that has young blue stars and hydrogen gas on its spiral arms. This indicates that NGC 24 is a relatively young galaxy. Other galaxies can also be seen near NGC 24's region.
Most galaxies are also suspected to contain dark matter. A number of astrophysicists and astronomers say that dark matter holds galaxies together. Dark matter cannot be seen but can be inferred through how it interacts with matter near it.
Recently astronomers have been baffled by plasma balls coming from a star.
