Hubble spots hazy, bejewelled spiral galaxy 55 million light-years from Earth

This latest image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope features NGC 941, a spiral galaxy which lies about 55 million light-years from Earth. The celestial landscape also features two redder, visually smaller galaxies and a bright star around the galaxy, with more tiny objects in the background.

According to the European Space Agency (ESA), the data used for this image were collected by Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), but this hazy, bejewelled galaxy was not the motivation for the data being collected.

"That distinction belongs to an astronomical event that took place in the galaxy years before: the supernova SN 2005ad. The location of this faded supernova was observed as part of a study of multiple hydrogen-rich supernovae, also known as type II supernovae, in order to better understand the environments in which certain types of supernovae take place. Whilst the study was conducted by professional astronomers, SN 2005ad itself owes its discovery to a distinguished amateur astronomer named Kōichi Itagaki, who has discovered over 170 supernovae," the ESA wrote in a post.

After the discovery of SN 2005ab was reported, professional astronomers followed up with spectroscopic studies and confirmed it as a type II supernova - a catastrophic explosion of a massive star at the end of its life cycle, when a massive star exhausts its nuclear fuel and is no longer supported by the release of nuclear energy. If the star's iron core is massive enough, it collapses and becomes a supernova.

This follow-up study eventually led to SN 2005ab's location being included in this study using the Hubble telescope.

Our ESA/Hubble Picture of the Week features the hazy, bejewelled spiral galaxy NGC 941 💠 which lies 55 million light-years away from Earth. pic.twitter.com/PER3jYHr6N

— HUBBLE (@HUBBLE_space) November 6, 2023