A face-on spiral galaxy hosting exploding stars
Spiral galaxy NGC 5468 is host to numerous exploding stars known as supernovae.
Spiral galaxy NGC 5468 is in a fortunate position from our perspective. It is face-on, giving astronomers on Earth a marvellous view of its intricate features: its bright core and twisting spiral arms, peppered with newborn stars glowing fiercely bright blue.
This galaxy is the source of numerous exploding stars - known as supernovae - many of which have been observed by astronomers over the past 20 years.
Despite its distance of 130 million lightyears from Earth, this galaxy hasn't finished revealing its secrets.
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Observatory Hubble Space Telescope
Release date 2 December 2019
Image credit ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Riess et al. / Acknowledgements: Judy Schmidt (Geckzilla)
Authors
Iain Todd is BBC Sky at Night Magazine's Staff Writer. He fell in love with the night sky when he caught his first glimpse of Orion, aged 10.
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