Hubble Views the Hidden Depths of Spiral Galaxy Messier 77

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope views spiral galaxy Messier 77, also known as NGC 1068.

Now, however, it is firmly categorized as a barred spiral galaxy, with loosely wound arms and a relatively small central bulge. It is the closest and brightest example of a particular class of galaxies known as Seyfert galaxies — galaxies that are full of hot, highly ionized gas that glows brightly, emitting intense radiation.

Strong radiation like this is known to come from the heart of Messier 77 — caused by a very active black hole that is around 15 million times the mass of our Sun.

Material is dragged towards this black hole and circles around it, heating up and glowing strongly. This region of a galaxy alone, although comparatively small, can be tens of thousands of times brighter than a typical galaxy.

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Source

Credit: NASA, ESA & A. van der Hoeven

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured this vivid image of spiral galaxy Messier 77 — a galaxy in the constellation of Cetus, some 45 million light-years away from us.

The streaks of red and blue in the image highlight pockets of star formation along the pinwheeling arms, with dark dust lanes stretching across the galaxy’s starry center.

The galaxy belongs to a class of galaxies known as Seyfert galaxies, which have highly ionized gas surrounding an intensely active center.

Source / Image Courtesy

Credit: NASA, ESA, Digitized Sky Survey 2. Acknowledgement: A. van der Hoeven

This video pans across the sky near to spiral galaxy Messier 77 in the constellation of Cetus, ending on a view of the famous object itself.

M 77 is a highly-studied galaxy, with an active black hole at its center and regions of bright star formation dotted along its loosely-wound arms.

Credit: NASA, ESA, Digitized Sky Survey 2. Acknowledgement: A. van der Hoeven

This video zooms in on spiral galaxy Messier 77.

The sequence begins with a view of the night sky near the constellation of Cetus.

It then zooms through observations from the Digitized Sky Survey 2, and ends with a view of the galaxy obtained by Hubble.