NASA / ESA’s Hubble Space Telescope captures a holiday globe of a billion stars in galaxy UGC 8091 located 7 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo. This is classified as an “irregular galaxy” due to its lack of an orderly spiral or elliptical appearance, and in this case, resembles a tangle of string lights.
Some of these irregular galaxies may have become tangled by tumultuous internal activity, while others were caused by interactions with neighboring galaxies. This isn’t just one image, but rather a composite, as Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 and the Advanced Camera for Surveys were used to collect the data from 2006 to 2021.
- LEGO NASA Space Set - This adult LEGO set features the Space Shuttle Discovery and the Hubble Space Telescope from NASA’s 1990 STS-31 mission,...
- Solar System Exploration - Unlock the mysteries of our solar system with this engaging 2,354-piece project, packed with authentic details and...
- Shuttle Features Galore - The space shuttle model has an opening payload bay, retractable landing gear, opening cockpit, moving elevons, space arm,...
Twelve camera filters were combined to produce this image, with light from the mid-ultraviolet through to the red end of the visible spectrum. The red patches are likely interstellar hydrogen molecules that are glowing because they have been excited by the light from hot, energetic stars. The other sparkles on show in this image are a mix of older stars. An array of distant, diverse galaxies appear in the background, captured by Hubble’s sharp view,” said NASA Hubble Mission Team.
