Hubble spies an intermediate spiral galaxy

The Hubble Space Telescope has captured an image of a galaxy that fills the gap between barred spirals and unbarred spirals.

Our special issue Hubble: 30 Years of Discovery is out now. Click here to buy
Published: May 30, 2020 at 7:14 am

Galaxy NGC 5861, imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Riess et al.
Galaxy NGC 5861, imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Riess et al.

This galaxy, named NGC 5861, lies about 85 million lightyears away in the constellation of Libra. It's an intermediate spiral galaxy, which means its shape is somewhere between a barred spiral galaxy, like our Milky Way, and an unbarred spiral galaxy.

Barred spiral galaxies like our home galaxy are so-called because they appear to have a bar-like structure of stars and gas running through their centre.

Image stats

Observatory Hubble Space Telescope

Release date 11 May 2020

Image credit ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Riess et al.

This website is owned and published by Our Media Ltd. www.ourmedia.co.uk
© Our Media 2024