For more than a century and a half, astronomers have been captivated by the distant galaxy OJ 287, located about five billion light years from Earth. Its puzzling variations in brightness have long hinted that two enormous black holes may be orbiting and merging at its center. Now, an internationalContinue Reading
Stars of all ages are on display in this new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Picture of the Week. This sparkling spiral galaxy is called NGC 6000 and it is located 102 million light-years away in the constellation Scorpius. This galaxy has a glowing yellow center and glittering blue outskirts. The colorsContinue Reading
This new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Picture of the Week features a galaxy that’s hard to categorize. The galaxy in question is NGC 2775, which lies 67 million light-years away in the constellation Cancer (The Crab). NGC 2775 sports a smooth, featureless center that is devoid of gas, resembling anContinue Reading
While it may appear unassuming at first glance, just another spiral galaxy among thousands in the Universe, this subject of this Hubble Picture of the Week has plenty to study. NGC 7456 is its name, located over 51 million light-years away in the constellation Grus (the Crane). In this imageContinue Reading
Traditionally, black holes are usually thought to “reside” at the centers of galaxies. However, a research team led by Dr. AN Tao from the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has discovered a wandering black hole in a dwarf galaxy located about 230 million light-years away (redshiftContinue Reading
This new Hubble Space Telescope Picture of the Week features a galaxy whose asymmetric appearance may be the result of a galactic tug of war. Located 35 million light-years away in the constellation Leo, the spiral galaxy Messier 96 is the brightest of the galaxies in its group. The gravitationalContinue Reading
What lurks behind the dense, dusty clouds of this galactic neighbor? There lies the star-powered heart of the galaxy Messier 82 (M82), also known as the Cigar Galaxy. Located just 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major (The Great Bear), the Cigar Galaxy is considered a nearby galaxy.Continue Reading
An international team of astronomers has discovered a massive cloud of gas and dust located in a little-known region of our Milky Way galaxy. The Giant Molecular Cloud (GMC) is about 60 parsecs — or 200 light years — long. In a new study published in the Astrophysical Journal, researchersContinue Reading
Today’s NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Picture of the Week offers a closeup of a nearby spiral galaxy. The subject is NGC 2835, which lies 35 million light-years away in the constellation Hydra (The Water Snake). A previous Hubble image of this galaxy was released in 2020, and the NASA/ESA/CSA JamesContinue Reading
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Picture of the Week zooms in on the feathery spiral arms of the galaxy NGC 45, which lies just 22 million light-years away in the constellation Cetus (The Whale). The data used to create this portrait were drawn from two complementary observing programs. The firstContinue Reading
