The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken a picture of the galaxy NGC 5949, which is found in the constellation of Draco.
This image from Hubble’s WFC3 is likely the best of the dwarf galaxy NGC 5949. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.
Also known as LEDA 55165, TC 847 and UGC 9866, NGC 5949 lies at a distance of approximately 41 million light-years from Earth.
The galaxy was discovered in November 28, 1801, by the British astronomer William Herschel.
With a mass of about a hundredth that of our own Milky Way Galaxy, NGC 5949 is a relatively bulky example of a dwarf galaxy.
Its classification as a dwarf is due to its relatively small number of constituent stars, but the galaxy’s loosely-bound spiral arms also place it in the category of barred spirals.
This structure is just visible in the new Hubble image, which shows the galaxy as a bright yet ill-defined pinwheel.
Astronomers have run into several cosmological quandaries when it comes to dwarf galaxies like NGC 5949.
For example, the distribution of dark matter within dwarfs is quite puzzling (‘cuspy halo’ problem), and the simulations of the Universe predict that there should be many more dwarf galaxies than we see around us (‘missing satellites’ problem).
The color image of NGC 5949 was made from separate exposures taken in the visible, ultraviolet and infrared regions of the spectrum with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3).
Five filters were used to sample various wavelengths.
The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter.
