NASA has released a stunning infrared image taken by the agency’s Spitzer Space Telescope of a lenticular galaxy called NGC 5866.
This Spitzer image shows the edge-on lenticular galaxy NGC 5866. The colors represent three infrared wavelengths captured by Spitzer’s Infrared Array Camera. Blue light corresponds to Spitzer’s observations at a wavelength of 3.6 microns, produced mainly by stars; green corresponds to 4.5 microns; and red corresponds to 8 microns. In this image, the blue haze is produced by stars that make up most of the mass of NGC 5866. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.
NGC 5866 is located approximately 44 million light-years away in the constellation Draco.
Also known as LEDA 53933 or UGC 9723, it has a diameter of 60,000 light-years — a little more than half the diameter of our own Milky Way Galaxy.
“When we think of galaxies, we often imagine massive spiral arms or thick disks of dust,” NASA astronomers explained.
“But not all galaxies are oriented face-on as viewed from Earth.”
“From our viewpoint, we see only the edge of NGC 5866, so most of its structural features are invisible.”
The Spitzer Space Telescope detects infrared light, and the red color in the image corresponds to an infrared wavelength typically emitted by dust.
With a consistency similar to soot or thick smoke, the dust absorbs light from stars, then reemits light at longer wavelengths, including in infrared.
The clean edges of the dust emission from NGC 5866 indicate that there is a very flat ring or disk of dust circling the galaxy’s outer region.
Dust rings and disks sometimes form in the wake of galaxies merging, but this galaxy lacks any sign of twists or distortions in the ring that often appear as the result of a merger.
“Trying to learn about the history and shape of NGC 5866 is challenging due to its orientation,” the researchers said.
“Our view of this galaxy is somewhat like our view of the Milky Way Galaxy — because Earth lies inside the Milky Way, we can see it only edge-on rather than face-on. But our proximity to the rest of the Milky Way has allowed astronomers to reconstruct what our Galaxy would look like viewed face-on.”
“Even the Sombrero galaxy, which is nearly edge-on as viewed from Earth, is tilted just enough to reveal a symmetric ring of dust around the galaxy’s center. If seen perfectly edge-on, the Sombrero might look a lot like NGC 5866.”
