Prepare to be amazed! The Hubble Space Telescope has unveiled a stunning new portrait of the barred spiral galaxy, NGC 4535. This image offers a breathtaking view into the cosmos, revealing details that were previously hidden.
This celestial marvel, located a staggering 52.6 million light-years away in the constellation of Virgo, is also known by the names LEDA 41812 and UGC 7727. Spanning an impressive 115,000 light-years across, NGC 4535 is a true giant of space.
But here’s where it gets interesting: this galaxy was first spotted way back on December 28, 1785, by the German-British astronomer William Herschel. And here is a fun fact: When viewed through a smaller telescope, NGC 4535 appears faint and ghostly. This ethereal quality led the amateur astronomer Leland S. Copeland to affectionately dub it ‘The Lost Galaxy’ in the 1950s.
Hubble, with its massive 2.4-meter mirror, is perfectly equipped to capture the details of such faint galaxies, allowing us to see its massive spiral arms and the central bar of stars.
NGC 4535 is also a prominent member of the Virgo Cluster, a massive gathering of up to 2,000 galaxies, and is located near the giant elliptical galaxy Messier 87. The galaxy’s nearly circular shape indicates that we’re viewing it almost directly face-on.
The heart of the matter: At its center, a well-defined bar structure is visible, with dust lanes curving sharply before the spiral arms emerge. The Hubble image also showcases the galaxy’s young star clusters, which are scattered throughout the spiral arms. Many of these bright blue stars are nestled within glowing pink clouds.
These pink clouds, known as H II regions, are a telltale sign that NGC 4535 is brimming with young, hot, and massive stars. These stars emit intense radiation, heating the surrounding clouds, and creating powerful stellar winds. Eventually, they explode as supernovae, significantly impacting their surroundings.
A new perspective: The new Hubble image incorporates data from a program designed to catalogue approximately 50,000 H II regions in nearby star-forming galaxies.
An earlier image of NGC 4535 was released in 2021. Both the previous and the current images incorporate observations from the PHANGS program, which aims to understand the relationship between young stars and cold gas. The latest image adds a new layer of understanding by capturing the brilliant red glow of the nebulae that surround massive stars in their first few million years of life.
Controversy alert: While the image is stunning, some might argue about the true color representation. Do you think the colors accurately reflect what we would see if we could travel there? What other aspects of space photography fascinate you? Share your thoughts below!