Photo credit: www.esa.int

NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Highlights Spiral Galaxy NGC 5530

This week’s featured image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope showcases the remarkable spiral galaxy NGC 5530, located approximately 40 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Lupus, also known as The Wolf. This galaxy is categorized as a ‘flocculent’ spiral, characterized by its uneven and irregular spiral arms.

Unlike many galaxies that feature an intensely bright center housing an active supermassive black hole, the luminous object near the core of NGC 5530 is actually a star from our own Milky Way galaxy, positioned about 10 thousand light-years away. This fortuitous alignment creates the illusion that the star resides at the nucleus of NGC 5530.

If you had the chance to observe NGC 5530 through a telescope on the evening of September 13, 2007, you would have noticed another vibrant point of light within the galaxy. That evening, Australian amateur astronomer Robert Evans identified a supernova, designated SN 2007IT, by comparing the current view of NGC 5530 with an earlier photograph. This accomplishment is particularly noteworthy as discovery of even one supernova through such meticulous observation is a significant achievement; Robert Evans has actually discovered over 40 supernovae using this method! The timing of this particular discovery was quite coincidental, as it is believed that the light from the supernova had traveled across the cosmos for 40 million years, reaching Earth just days before it was spotted.

[Image Description: A spiral galaxy, viewed from a slight angle against a dark cosmic backdrop. It emanates a soft glow from its center to its outer edges. The disc reveals a complex pattern of dark reddish dust interspersed with sparkling blue areas indicative of active star formation. At the galaxy’s center, a star appears exceptionally bright and large, accompanied by four spikes radiating from it due to its relatively close proximity to Earth.]

Source
www.esa.int