The Hubble team has released an absolutely beautiful photo taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of the face-on spiral galaxy ESO 420-13.
ESO 420-13 is a spiral galaxy located in the southern constellation of Eridanus.
Otherwise known as LEDA 14702, IRAS 04118-3207 or 2MASX J04134969-3200252, the galaxy is also classified as a Seyfert galaxy.
“Dark lanes of dust are visible against the background glow of the galaxy’s many stars,” the Hubble astronomers said in a statement.
“About 10% of all the galaxies in the Universe are thought to be Seyfert galaxies.”
“They are typically spiral galaxies and have very bright nuclei, the result of supermassive black holes at their centers accreting material that releases vast amounts of radiation.”
“The cores of these active galaxies are brightest when observing light outside the visible spectrum.”
“Often galaxies with these kinds of active galactic nuclei are so bright that the host galaxy itself cannot be seen, washed out by the glow of its nuclei.”
“But Seyfert galaxies are distinctive because the galaxy itself is also visible.”
“In the case of ESO 420-13, we can enjoy the galaxy’s almost perfectly round disk, brighter core, and whirled filaments of dark dust.”
The astronomers observed ESO 420-13 as part of a study of Luminous Infrared Galaxies (LIRGs).
“These galaxies are known to be extremely bright in the infrared part of the spectrum,” they said.
“Galactic interactions trigger new regions of star formation in LIRGs, causing them to be highly luminous in infrared light.”
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