Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
Acknowledgement: Flickr user Det58
This new Hubble image shows NGC 1566, a beautiful galaxy located
approximately 40 million light-years away in the constellation of Dorado
(The Dolphinfish). NGC 1566 is an intermediate spiral galaxy, meaning
that while it does not have a well defined bar-shaped region of stars at
its centre — like barred spirals — it is not quite an unbarred spiral
either (heic9902o).
The small but extremely bright nucleus of NGC 1566 is
clearly visible in this image, a telltale sign of its membership of the
Seyfert class of galaxies. The centres of such galaxies are very active
and luminous, emitting strong bursts of radiation and potentially
harbouring supermassive black holes that are many millions of times the
mass of the Sun.
NGC 1566 is not just any Seyfert galaxy; it is the second
brightest Seyfert galaxy known. It is also the brightest and most
dominant member of the Dorado Group, a loose concentration of galaxies
that together comprise one of the richest galaxy groups of the southern
hemisphere. This image highlights the beauty and awe-inspiring nature of
this unique galaxy group, with NGC 1566 glittering and glowing, its
bright nucleus framed by swirling and symmetrical lavender arms.
This image was taken by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) in the
near-infrared part of the spectrum. A version of the image was entered
into the Hubble’s Hidden Treasures image processing competition by Flickr user Det58.
Source: ESA/Hubble - Space Telescope
