Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Space
  3. News

Hubble captures a spectacular ‘face-on’ Starburst galaxy

Georgina Torbet
By
The luminous heart of the galaxy M61 dominates this image, framed by its winding spiral arms threaded with dark tendrils of dust. As well as the usual bright bands of stars, the spiral arms of M61 are studded with ruby-red patches of light. Tell-tale signs of recent star formation, these glowing regions lead to M61’s classification as a starburst galaxy.
The luminous heart of the galaxy M61 dominates this image, framed by its winding spiral arms threaded with dark tendrils of dust. As well as the usual bright bands of stars, the spiral arms of M61 are studded with ruby-red patches of light. Tell-tale signs of recent star formation, these glowing regions lead to M61’s classification as a starburst galaxy. ESA/Hubble & NASA, ESO, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST Team

The scientists working with the Hubble Space Telescope have shared another spectacular image of space. This image shows galaxy M61, located in the Virgo Cluster, with its spiral arms and regions of star formation shown in red. The image was created using data from the space-based Hubble, supplemented by data from other instruments like the FOcal Reducer and Spectrograph 2 (FORS 2) camera at the European Southern Observatory’s ground-based Very Large Telescope.

This galaxy is notable in that it appears “face on” to us from Earth — that is, it appears almost completely flat, allowing us an excellent view of the structures of the galaxy. Even though it is located 52 million light-years away, it is still a popular target for astronomical observations because of its face on appearance.

In the red regions in the arms of the galaxy, stars have recently been born when patches of dust and gas have clumped together, then eventually collapsed under the weight of their gravity to form the core of a new star. Stars aren’t only being born in the spiral arms of M61 though. Unseen, in the center of the galaxy around the supermassive black hole at its heart, more pockets of star formation lie.

Related

There is so much star formation going on in this galaxy that it is categorized as a starburst galaxy. This is a phase in which a galaxy is very active in terms of star formation, producing stars at a rate up to ten times the rate of our galaxy, the Milky Way.

Another unusual feature about this galaxy is its unusually high rate of extragalactic supernovae. There have been eight observed supernovae in this galaxy when massive stars have come to the end of their lives and exploded in a huge outpouring of energy. This makes M61 one of the galaxies to host the most known supernovae.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
One of James Webb’s four instruments is offline following error
The James Webb Space Telescope.
An asteroid just came incredibly close to Earth
An artist's impression of an asteroid approaching Earth
SpaceX takes big step toward first flight of most powerful rocket
SpaceX's Starship spacecraft being placed atop the Super Heavy rocket.
Juice spacecraft heading to spaceport ahead of mission to study Jupiter’s moons
Juice is scheduled for launch in 2022 on a seven-year journey to the Jovian system. Its tour will include a dedicated orbit phase of Jupiter, targeted flybys of Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, and finally nine months orbiting Ganymede – the first time any moon beyond our own has been orbited by a spacecraft. In the artist’s impression, which is not to scale, Ganymede is shown in the foreground, Callisto to the far right, and Europa centre-right. Volcanically active moon Io is also shown, at left. The moons were imaged by NASA’s Galileo spacecraft; Jupiter is seen here with a vivid aurora, captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.
SpaceX reaches agreement with astronomers to limit Starlink interference
Image showing the disruption of astronomical observations caused by a previous Starlink launch
Hubble snaps an image of a galaxy in our cosmic backyard
This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope features the galaxy LEDA 48062 in the constellation Perseus. LEDA 48062 is the faint, sparse, amorphous galaxy on the right side of the image, and it is accompanied by a more sharply defined neighbor on the left – the large, disk-like lenticular galaxy UGC 8603. A smattering of more distant galaxies litter the background while a handful of foreground stars shine brightly throughout the image.
How to watch two astronauts perform their first spacewalk on Friday
A photo of Expedition 68 Flight Engineer and NASA spacewalker Josh Cassada on Dec. 22, 2022, preparing a roll-out solar array for its deployment on the International Space Station's Port-4 truss segment as the orbiting lab flew 264 miles above the Indian Ocean off the coast of South Africa.
Watch key moments of SpaceX triple-booster Falcon Heavy launch
SpaceX's Falcon Heavy heading to space.
Enjoy these amazing space images by NASA’s oldest active astronaut
Don Pettit aboard the space station.
Watch SpaceX footage of Falcon Heavy from launch to landing
SpaceX's Falcon Heavy heading to space.
This must be the most beautiful image ever of a rocket launch
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launching from Florida.
Still no joy for Lucy’s stuck solar array, NASA is giving up for now
see lucy spacecraft slingshot past earth fly by
Light pollution is cutting off views of the night sky for many
A startling analysis from Globe at Night — a citizen science program run by NSF’s NOIRLab — concludes that stars are disappearing from human sight at an astonishing rate. The study finds that, to human eyes, artificial lighting has dulled the night sky more rapidly than indicated by satellite measurements. The study showcases the unique contributions that citizen scientists can make in essential fields of research. This graphic illustrates how the greater the amount of light pollution, and therefore skyglow, the fewer the stars that are visible. The numeric scale is similar to the one used by Globe at Night participants.