NASA has released a stunning photo taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of NGC 3274, a relatively faint galaxy in the constellation of Leo.
This image, taken with the Wide Field Camera 3 on board the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows NGC 3274, a barred spiral galaxy about 21 million light-years from Earth. The galaxy PGC 213714 is also visible on the upper right of the frame, located much further away from us. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / D. Calzetti.
NGC 3274 is a 13th-magnitude barred spiral galaxy (type SBcd).
Also known as LEDA 31122, UGC 5721 and Was 13, the galaxy is approximately 21 million light-years distant.
It was discovered by British astronomer Sir Wilhelm Herschel on April 11, 1785.
This image of NGC 3274 is made up of observations from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) instrument in different parts of the spectrum.
Hubble’s WFC3 vision spreads from the ultraviolet light through to the near-infrared, allowing astronomers to study a wide range of targets, from nearby star formation through to galaxies in the most remote regions of the cosmos.
This image is based on data obtained through five filters: the purple filter F275W, the violet filter F336W, the blue filter F438W, the green filter F555W and the near-infrared filter F814W.
The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter.
