The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a vivid image of the unbarred spiral galaxy NGC 5033.
This Hubble image shows the spiral galaxy NGC 5033. The image is a composite of separate exposures acquired by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). It is based on data obtained through two filters. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Judy Schmidt, www.geckzilla.com.
NGC 5033 is located about 43 million light-years from Earth toward the constellation of Canes Venatici.
The galaxy’s spiral arms span over 100,000 light-years, similar in size to our own Milky Way Galaxy.
The blue patches house hot, young stars in the process of forming, while the older, cooler stars populating NGC 5033’s center cause it to appear redder in color.
In contrast to the Milky Way this galaxy is missing a central bar.
Instead it has a bright and energetic core called an active galactic nucleus, which is powered by a supermassive black hole.
This active nucleus gives it the classification of a Seyfert galaxy.
Due to the ongoing activity the core of NGC 5033 shines bright across the entire electromagnetic spectrum.
This released energy shows that the supermassive black hole is currently devouring stars, dust and gas getting to close to it.
As this matters falls onto the black hole, it radiates in many different wavelengths.
While the galaxy’s relative proximity to Earth makes it an ideal target for professional astronomer to study its active nucleus in more detail, its big apparent size on the night sky and its brightness also makes it a beautiful target for amateur astronomers.
