The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a vivid image of the central part of a grand design spiral galaxy called NGC 5364.
This Hubble image reveals a detailed view of the central part of the grand design spiral galaxy NGC 5364. The color image was made from separate exposures taken in the visible and infrared regions of the spectrum with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). Four filters were used to sample various wavelengths. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / L. Ho.
NGC 5364 is located 44.4 million light-years away in the constellation of Virgo.
Also known as LEDA 49555 or UGC 8853, this galaxy was discovered by the German-born British astronomer William Herschel on February 2, 1786.
NGC 5364 is a grand design spiral galaxy, a descriptive name deserved by only one-tenth of spirals.
“While all spirals have a structure that is broadly similar, there is quite a bit of variation amongst individual galaxies,” the Hubble astronomers said.
“Some have patchy, oddly-shaped arms, some have bars of stars cutting through their core, some are colossal and radiant, and others are dim and diminutive.”
“Grand designs like NGC 5364 are in many ways the archetype of a spiral galaxy.”
“They are characterized by their prominent, well-defined arms, which circle outwards from a clear core.”
“Despite being classified in this way, NGC 5364 is far from perfect,” they added.
“Its arms are asymmetrical compared to other grand design spirals — this is thought to be due to interactions with a nearby neighbor — the lenticular galaxy NGC 5363.”
“NGC 5363 and NGC 5364 are tugging on one another, warping and moving their stars and gas around and causing this misshapen appearance.”
