Hubble spots stunning spiral galaxy shining in ‘Little Lion’ (image)

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Hubble just released more galactic eye candy!

From your vantage point in low Earth orbit, the Hubble Space Telescope recently captured an intricate portrait of the galaxy NGC 3430, a classic spiral galaxy that resides 100 million light-years away. Earth in the constellation Leo Minor.

The galaxy itself is an impressive maelstrom of gas and dust sculpted into thick ribbons that spiral around its center. Bright blue spots scattered between these arms show regions where new stars are forming. The orange spots seen at the top and bottom of the image show distant background galaxies behind NGC 3430.

Just outside the main structure of the galaxy there are several other neighboring galaxies beyond the frame of this image. One of them, in fact, is close enough that its gravitational influence has triggered some of the star formation within NGC 3430, a recent NASA statement he said.

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Both NGC 3430 and Milky Way they are spiral galaxies, but our home galaxy has something that sets it apart. The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy, a classification that refers to the dense, oval structure of ancient stars that traverse the heart of our galaxy.

NGC 3430, on the other hand, has turned into a “classical” or “normal” spiral galaxy, lacking a dense central bar of ancient stars, but still possessing clear, distinct spiral arms.

Classical spiral, barred spiral, and other types of galaxy shapes, lenticular, elliptical, and irregular, date back to the early 1900s, when the study of galaxies was still in its infancy.

NGC 3430’s distinctive shape may have even inspired astronomer Edwin Hubble use it to define your galaxy classification. In a 1916 paper, the astronomer grouped around 400 galaxies by their appearance: spiral, barred spiral, lenticular, elliptical or irregular – a simple topology that formed the basis for the modern schemes used today.

Other to study in the late 1990s discovered that NGC 3430 shows clear signs of tidal interactions with a neighboring galaxy, NGC 3424.

As other images sent home by HubbleIt may be difficult to imagine such complex images of the cosmos being obtained by a telescope hovering just above Earth’s atmosphere. NASA’s flagship space telescope has operated about 320 miles (515 kilometers) above our planet’s surface for three decades, since its launch in 1990.

The long-duration telescope’s lifespan was extended last month when NASA moved it to mode of a gyroscope after three other gyroscopes, which keep the telescope precisely pointed at a pocket of the universe for long periods, failed hopelessly. Scientists lost the ability to maintain the telescope in 2011 when the spacecraft he was retired.

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Last week, an independent panel of eight experts outlined for NASA three possible ways to continue operating Hubble while adhering to NASA’s planned budget: reduce funding for general observation programs, reduce the number of instrument modes, or, at worst, eliminate five of the nine instrument modes, including infrared capabilities. The latter could be, at least partially, covered by the James Webb Space Telescope.

Once the mission is over, lost instrument modes will most likely not be able to be restored because the mission does not have experts with the relevant experience to do so, said a recent declaration observed by the American Astronomical Society.

This means we should cherish stunning images of the cosmos like this one from NGC 3430 as long as Hubble, humanity’s loyal space telescope, continues to provide them.