Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have acquired an image of a distant galaxy called UGC 5797.
This image shows the star-forming galaxy UGC 5797. Image credit: ESA / Hubble / NASA / Luca Limatola.
UGC 5797 is an emission line galaxy located in the direction of the constellation Sextans.
It has an apparent visual magnitude of 14.4 and is approximately 34 million light-years away from Earth.
The galaxy is currently in a high star formation activity epoch.
The result is a stellar population that is constantly being refurbished as massive bright blue stars (O-type) form.
The O-type stars are the hottest stars – their surface temperature ranges from 40,000 to 20,000 K.
These stars, which are really monsters compared to our Sun, are short-lived and quickly explode as supernovas, releasing huge amounts of energy.
Young and massive O-type stars have strong stellar winds. The winds are fast, with typical velocities up to 2500 km per second.
One of the earliest manifestations of O-type stars are the dense ionized regions known as ultracompact HII regions that develop as the stellar surface temperatures become hot enough to ionize hydrogen.
These stars also emit tremendous amounts of UV radiation and this can play havoc during the development of protoplanetary systems.
Astronomer Luca Limatola submitted a version of this image to the Hubble’s Hidden Treasures processing competition.
