The Milky Way’s big sister
This image taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) shows a beautiful spiral galaxy called NGC 6744. At first glance, it resembles our Milky Way albeit larger, measuring more than 200 000 light-years across compared to 100 000 light-year diameter for our home galaxy.
NGC 6744 is similar to our home galaxy in more ways than one. Like the Milky Way, NGC 6744 has a prominent central region packed with old yellow stars. Moving away from the galactic core, one can see parts of the dusty spiral arms painted in shades of pink and blue; while the blue sites are full of young star clusters, the pink ones are regions of active star formation, indicating that the galaxy is still very lively.
In 2005, a supernova, named 2005at, was discovered within NGC 6744, adding to the argument of this galaxy’s liveliness (not visible in this image). SN 2005at is a type Ic supernova, formed when a massive star collapses in itself and loses its hydrogen envelope.
Credit:ESA/Hubble & NASA
Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt
About the Image
Id: | potw1830a |
Type: | Observation |
Release date: | 23 July 2018, 06:00 |
Size: | 4076 x 4095 px |
About the Object
Name: | NGC 6744 |
Type: | Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Spiral |
Distance: | 35 million light years |
Constellation: | Pavo |
Category: | Galaxies |
Image Formats
Coordinates
Position (RA): | 19 9 43.58 |
Position (Dec): | -63° 51' 9.57" |
Field of view: | 2.69 x 2.70 arcminutes |
Orientation: | North is 120.1° left of vertical |
Colours & filters
Band | Wavelength | Telescope |
---|---|---|
Ultraviolet UV | 275 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFC3 |
Optical U | 336 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFC3 |
Optical B | 438 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFC3 |
Optical y | 547 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFC3 |
Optical V | 555 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFC3 |
Optical I | 817 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFC3 |
Optical H-alpha + NIII | 657 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFC2 |