Tendrils of dark dust obscuring this Seyfert galaxy's luminous heart in new Hubble image

Astronomers inspecting the NGC 7172 galaxy also discovered that it is a Seyfert galaxy, an extremely energetic class of galaxies known as active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Seyfert galaxies have supermassive black holes at their centers accreting material, which releases vast amounts of radiation.

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a breathtaking view of NGC 7172, a spiral galaxy lying approximately 110 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Piscis Austrinus. The new image, shared by the European Space Agency, shows tendrils of dark dust threading across the heart of the galaxy.

Sharing the image, ESA wrote in a post, "The lane of dust threading its way across NGC 7172 — which is viewed side-on in this image — is obscuring the luminous heart of the galaxy, making NGC 7172 appear to be nothing more than a normal edge-on spiral galaxy."

Astronomers inspecting the NGC 7172 galaxy also discovered that it is a Seyfert galaxy, an extremely energetic class of galaxies known as active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Seyfert galaxies have supermassive black holes at their centers accreting material, which releases vast amounts of radiation.

The image was acquired using Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and Wide Field Camera 3 (WFCS). While WFC3 can observe ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared light, ACS' wavelength range extends from the ultraviolet, through the visible and out to the near-infrared.

Tendrils of dark dust can be seen threading across the heart of the spiral galaxy NGC 7172 in this Picture of the Week from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. 🔗 https://t.co/blrY2ufmN9Credit: @esa/ @HUBBLE_space / @NASA , D. J. Rosario, A. BarthAcknowledgement: L. Shatz pic.twitter.com/EJx8b3tfm0

— HUBBLE (@HUBBLE_space) March 28, 2022