While we are still shaken by the James Webb Space Telescope’s first images of distant galaxies, we cannot overlook the contributions of our old faithful friend Hubble. Researchers share stunning images captured by the Hubble Space Telescope every week, and this week’s image features a trio of galactic objects of different kinds.
These objects in the constellation Hercules were imaged by Hubble in the optical wavelength range. There are three main objects here: the prominent galaxy LEDA 58109 in the upper right, named after the Lyon-Meudon Extragalactic Database where it is cataloged, and two other objects in the lower left. The most distant of these two objects is the galaxy SDSS J162557.25+435743.5, named after the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, and in front of it is an active galactic core named SDSS J162558.14+435746.4.
An active galactic nucleus, or AGN, is a busy region at the heart of a galaxy that’s particularly bright, but that brightness isn’t necessarily due to stars. Light emitted from these regions can be in the radio, microwave, infrared, ultraviolet, and visible ranges, and is thought to emanate from the giant supermassive black holes that lie at the center of almost every galaxy. Because these regions glow brightly, they can eclipse other galaxies, as the example in this image shows.
Also, this image shows the many types of galaxies that exist. “Galaxy classification is sometimes presented as a kind of dichotomy: spiral and elliptical“, Hubble scientist write. “However, the diversity of galaxies in this image alone underscores the complex web of existing galaxy classifications, including galaxies harboring extremely luminous AGNs at their cores and galaxies whose shapes defy classification as spiral or elliptical.”
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