Jari
26 September 2024
The spiral galaxy IC 1954, located 45 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Horologium, sports a glowing bar in its core, two main majestically winding spiral arms and clouds of dark dust across it.
Hubble Space Telescope took an image of this galaxy in 2021, but now this image has been improved with H-alpha data. The improved coverage of star-forming nebulae, which are prominent emitters of the red H-alpha light, can be seen in the numerous glowing, pink spots across the disc of the galaxy. Interestingly, some astronomers posit that the galaxy’s ‘bar’ is actually an energetic star-forming region that just happens to lie over the galactic centre.
Read the whole story at the ESA/Hubble website.