Published 10:49 IST, October 20th 2019
NASA posts Hubble Space Telescope's beautiful image of galaxy NGC 4380
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on Saturday posted a beautiful picture of galaxy NGC 4380 captured by the Hubble Space Telescope.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on Saturday, October 20, posted a beautiful picture of galaxy NGC 4380 on the microblogging website Twitter. In the image, a huge number of stars, ranging up to billions are visible. Captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, the galaxy gives an impression of a special effect that often appears in a science fiction or fantasy film. These stars are shaped like a flat disk and are surrounded by dark lanes of dust wind. However, according to NASA, spiral galaxies such as galaxy NGC 4380 are very common in the universe.
Not the first such image released by NASA
Such images of different galaxies are often released by NASA. The Hubble telescope that spots galaxies of shapes and sizes also has the ability to gaze at a galaxy oriented sideways. 9 days ago, it released the picture of a spiral galaxy called NGC 3717. It is located more than 60 million light-years away in the constellation of Hydra. The Hubble telescope manages to provide a comprehensive sense of the galaxy's three-dimensional shape. Having the shape of a flying saucer, spiral galaxies also are often shaped like a thin pancake. While NGC 3717 is not captured perfectly in the image; the nearer part of the galaxy is tilted slightly down, and the far side is tilted up. This angle gives a view across the disk.
Updated 12:05 IST, October 20th 2019