Hubble spots a meandering spiral galaxy 110 million light-years from Earth

An irregularly-shaped spiral galaxy takes central stage in this latest picture from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The galaxy, named NGC 5486, lies 110 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major.

NGC 5486 has indistinct, meandering spiral arms and the small, wispy, pink regions are the sites of star formation. It lies close to the Pinwheel Galaxy, one of the finest examples of a 'grand design' spiral galaxy with prominent and well-defined spiral arms.

1/ Our ESA/Hubble Picture of the Week brings you a meandering spiral. The irregular spiral galaxy NGC 5486 lies 110 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major. 🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/VTZfWEjzPA

— HUBBLE (@HUBBLE_space) March 6, 2023

In 2004, NGC 5486 hosted a supernova - a powerful and extremely energetic explosion that occurs when a star reaches the end of its life. Astronomers used Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) to explore the aftermath in the hopes of learning more about these explosive events.

This particular observation comes from a selection of Hubble images exploring the detritus left behind by Type II supernovae. Type II supernovae occur when a massive star runs out of nuclear fuel and undergoes a catastrophic collapse, triggering a powerful explosion. These events play a crucial role in the creation of many of the elements that make up our world.

The Advanced Camera for Surveys or ACS was installed on Hubble during Servicing Mission 3B in 2002. The instrument is designed to capture high-resolution images of astronomical objects in visible, ultraviolet, and near-infrared light.

With its superb image quality and high sensitivity, ACS has contributed to numerous groundbreaking discoveries over the years, including the discovery of dark energy, the detection of the first known exoplanet, a planet outside our solar system, as well as the discovery of the most distant known galaxy at the time.