The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken the most detailed image so far of a spectacular part of the spiral galaxy NGC 4536.
This image snapped by Hubble reveals a detailed view of part of the spiral galaxy NGC 4536. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.
NGC 4536, also known as LEDA 41823 and IRAS 12318+0227, is a barred spiral galaxy with two major arms.
This galaxy is located in the constellation of Virgo, approximately 47.8 million light-years from Earth.
NGC 4536 is also a starburst galaxy, meaning it is forming stars at an exceptionally high rate.
There are several different factors that can lead to such an ideal environment in which stars can form at such a rapid rate. Crucially, there has to be a sufficiently massive supply of gas.
This might be acquired in a number of ways: by passing very close to another galaxy, in a full-blown galactic collision, or as a result of some event that forces lots of gas into a relatively small space.
According to astronomers, starburst regions are rich in gas.
Young stars in these extreme environments often live fast and die young, burning extremely hot and exhausting their gas supplies fairly quickly.
These stars also emit huge amounts of intense UV light, which blasts the electrons off any atoms of hydrogen lurking nearby, leaving behind clouds of ionized hydrogen (HII regions).
This image of NGC 4536 (hi-res version) is a composite of separate exposures acquired by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3).
Two filters — a green filter (F555W) and a near-infrared filter (F814W) — were used to sample various wavelengths.
The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter.
