Hubble captures a gorgeous galaxy 130 million light-years from Earth
This latest image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows a lonely spiral galaxy called UGC 9391. The gorgeous spiral galaxy is located a whopping 130 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Draco near the north celestial pole.
The star-studded spiral arms of UGC 9391 stand in splendid isolation against a backdrop of distant galaxies, which are only visible as indistinct swirls or smudges thanks to their vast distances from Earth.
Hello out there, UGC 9391! 👋This gorgeous galaxy resides a whopping 130 million light-years away in the constellation Draco.Read more: https://t.co/JxU9SqIJ08 pic.twitter.com/mxy1N0tBeb
— Hubble (@NASAHubble) September 30, 2022
Also visible in this Hubble image are some much brighter foreground stars closer to home. These bright nearby stars are ringed with diffraction spikes - prominent spikes caused by light interacting with the inner workings of the telescope's secondary mirror supports.
Captured using the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), this image is from a set of Hubble observations which astronomers used to construct the "Cosmic Distance Ladder" - a set of connected measurements that allow astronomers to determine how far the most distant astronomical objects are.
The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) conducts its science operations.
The premium space-based observatory has been beaming back stunning images of the cosmos since 1990, advancing the scientific community's understanding of the mysterious universe.