The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a stunning image of the nearby galaxy NGC 2500, also known as LEDA 22525 and IRAS 07581+5052.
This image shows the barred spiral galaxy NGC 2500, which lies in the northern constellation of Lynx, about 32 million light-years away. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.
NGC 2500 is a barred spiral galaxy discovered by British astronomer William Herschel on March 9, 1788.
The galaxy is approximately 25,000 light-years across and lies 32 million light-years away in the northern constellation of Lynx.
Barred spirals like NGC 250 are actually more common than was once thought.
Around two-thirds of all spiral galaxies — including our own Milky Way Galaxy — exhibit straight bars cutting through their centers.
These cosmic structures act as glowing nurseries for newborn stars, and funnel material towards the active core of a galaxy.
NGC 2500 is still actively forming new stars, although this process appears to be occurring very unevenly.
The upper half of the galaxy — where the spiral arms are slightly better defined — hosts many more star-forming regions than the lower half, as indicated by the bright, dotted islands of light.
There is another similarity between NGC 2500 and the Milky Way.
Together with Andromeda, Triangulum, and many smaller natural satellites, our Galaxy is part of the Local Group of galaxies, a gathering of over 50 galaxies all loosely held together by gravity.
NGC 2500 forms a similar group with some of its nearby neighbors, including NGC 2541, NGC 2552, NGC 2537, and the bright, Andromeda-like spiral NGC 2481 — known collectively as the NGC 2841 group.
This picture of NGC 2500 was snapped by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3).
The image combines observations gathered in five different filters, bringing together UV, visible, and IR light to show off NGC 2500 in all its glory.
The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter.
