Hubble image captures a stunning spiral galaxy in the constellation of Aquila

By Georgina TorbetDecember 12, 2021

This week’s image from the Hubble Space Telescope captures the glorious spiral galaxy UGC 11537, seen at an angle that shows off both its long spiral arms and the bright clump of stars at its center. It is located 230 million light-years away in the constellation of Aquila (Latin for “eagle”).

As well as being pleasing to look at, this image was collected to further scientific knowledge about the enormous black holes at the galaxy’s heart. “This image came from a set of observations designed to help astronomers weigh supermassive black holes in the centers of distant galaxies,” Hubble scientists wrote. “Hubble’s sharp-eyed observations along with data from ground-based telescopes allowed astronomers to make detailed models of the mass and motions of stars in these galaxies, which in turn helps constrain the mass of supermassive black holes.”

This astronomical portrait from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope showcases an edge-on view of the majestic spiral galaxy UGC 11537. The infrared and visible light capabilities of Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 have captured the galaxy’s tightly wound spiral arms swirling around its heart. The image reveals the bright bands of stars and the dark clouds of dust threading throughout the galaxy.ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Seth

Hubble is back up and running this week, with all four of its currently active instruments operational and collecting science data once again. The telescope had been automatically placed into safe mode following a synchronization error in late October, but the error seems to have been a one-off. In the weeks since the error occurred, the Hubble team turned on first one of the older inactive instruments, then each of the currently active instruments one by one.

No further errors have occurred, but NASA has said that the team is looking into performing a software update in the future. This would allow the instruments to continue operating even if a few synchronization messages were missed, which should prevent problems like this one from happening in the future.

Hubble is getting old, having been in operation for more than 30 years. Soon it will be joined by the James Webb Space Telescope, set to launch in a few weeks, which will be its successor  — however, the two telescopes have distinctly different specialties. Hubble observes primarily in the visible light wavelength, while James Webb will observe primarily in the infrared wavelength. So NASA plans to keep Hubble running as long as possible in addition to James Webb, and has recently extended its operations contract until 2026.

A stunning infrared nebula hides astronomical objects of interest

By Georgina TorbetDecember 12, 2021 

A beautiful image of a distant nebula has been captured using the international Gemini Observatory, located in Chile. The image shows the Chamaeleon Infrared Nebula, a star-forming region that is one of the nearest to Earth in our galaxy.

This nebula is known as an infrared nebula because it glows brightly in the infrared wavelength, though this particular image was taken in the visible light wavelength. It is a reflection nebula, meaning that it is a cloud of dust and gas which is not itself ionized, but which reflects the light of a nearby star. The source of the wispy shape of the nebula is a young, cool star hidden by a dark band in the center of the image which is giving off streams of gas which creates tunnel shapes through the material, as well as giving off light which illuminates the nebula.

This ethereal image, captured from Chile by the international Gemini Observatory, a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab, looks as delicate as a butterfly’s wing. It is, however, a structure known as the Chamaeleon Infrared Nebula, which is located near the center of the even larger Chamaeleon I dark cloud, one of the nearest star-forming regions in our Milky Way.International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA Acknowledgments: Image processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF’s NOIRLab), J. Miller (Gemini Observatory/NSF’s NOIRLab), M. Zamani (NSF’s NOIRLab) & D. de Martin (NSF’s NOIRLab)

There are also two other objects of interest in the image. “The bright red object to the right of the image center marks where some of the fast-moving stream of gas lights up after colliding with slower-moving gas in the nebula,” NOIRLab writes. “It is known as a Herbig-Haro (HH) object and has the designation HH 909A. Other Herbig-Haro objects have been found along the axis of the star’s outflow beyond the edges of the image to the right and left.”

There are signs that there might be the very early stages of planet formation happening here as well. “Astronomers have suggested that the dark band at the center of the Chamaeleon Infrared Nebula is a circumstellar disk — a reservoir of gas and dust orbiting the star,” NOIRLab writes. “Circumstellar disks are typically associated with young stars and provide the materials needed to build planets. The reason the disk appears as a band rather than a circle in this image is that it is edge-on, only revealing one edge to observers here on Earth. Astronomers believe that the nebula’s central star is a young stellar object embedded within the disk.”