Astronomers using the Advanced Camera for Surveys aboard NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have obtained a remarkable new view of the lenticular galaxy NGC 5010.
This image portrays a beautiful view of the galaxy NGC 5010, as seen by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope (ESA / Hubble & NASA)
NGC 5010, also known as PGC 45868, is located some 140 million light-years from Earth in the constellation of Virgo.
The galaxy is oriented sideways to us, allowing the astronomers to peer into it and show the dark, dusty, remnant bands of spiral arms.
NGC 5010 is in the process of transition from being a spiral galaxy to being an elliptical galaxy. In this phase, astronomers refer to it as a lenticular galaxy, which has features of both ellipticals and spirals. NGC 5010 is also a luminous infrared galaxy.
Most of the stars in NGC 5010 are red and elderly. The galaxy no longer contains all that many of the fast-lived blue stars common in younger galaxies that still actively produce new populations of stars.
Much of the dusty and gaseous fuel needed to create fresh stars has already been used up in NGC 5010.
Over time, NGC 5010 will grow progressively more ‘red and dead,’ as astronomers describe elliptical galaxies.
