This spectacular image was captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS).
The bright streak slicing across the frame is an edge-on view of galaxy
NGC 4762, and a number of other distant galaxies can be seen scattered
in the background.
NGC 4762 lies about 58 million light-years away in the constellation
of Virgo (The Virgin). It is part of the Virgo Cluster, hence its
alternative designation of VCC 2095 for Virgo Cluster Catalogue entry.
This catalogue is a listing of just over 2000 galaxies in the area of
the Virgo Cluster. The Virgo Cluster is actually prominently situated,
and lies at the centre of the larger Virgo supercluster, of which our
galaxy group, the Local Group, is a member.
Previously thought to be a barred spiral galaxy, NGC 4762 has since been found to be a lenticular galaxy,
a kind of intermediate step between an elliptical and a spiral. The
edge-on view that we have of this particular galaxy makes it difficult
to determine its true shape, but astronomers have found the galaxy to
consist of four main components — a central bulge, a bar, a thick disc
and an outer ring.
The galaxy's disc is asymmetric and warped, which could potentially
be explained by NGC 4762 violently cannibalising a smaller galaxy in the
past. The remains of this former companion may then have settled within
NGC 4762's disc, redistributing the gas and stars and so changing the
disc's morphology.
NGC 4762 also contains a Liner-type Active Galactic Nucleus,
a highly energetic central region. This nucleus is detectable due to
its particular spectral line emission, which acts as a type of "atomic
fingerprint", allowing astronomers to measure the composition of the
region.
