NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has captured a beautiful image of the spiral galaxy NGC 4183.
NGC 4183 is a spiral galaxy little smaller than the Milky Way, with a faint core and an open spiral structure. It lies about 55 million light-years from the Sun in the northern constellation of Canes Venatici and spans some 80,000 light-years.
The galaxy is viewed edge-on from the Earth, and we cannot fully appreciate its spiral arms, but can admire its galactic disc.
The discs of galaxies are mainly composed of gas, dust and stars. There is evidence of dust over the galactic plane, visible as dark intricate filaments that block the visible light from the core of the galaxy.
In addition, recent studies suggest that this galaxy may have a bar structure. Galactic bars are thought to act as a mechanism that channels gas from the spiral arms to the center, enhancing star formation, which is typically more pronounced in the spiral arms than in the bulge of the galaxy.
The image was taken using the Wide Field Channel of the Advanced Camera for Surveys aboard Hubble.
