@nasa

Not even cosmic dust could dull this shine ✨ Nestled in the equator of the Milky Way’s pearly disk, crowded with thick cosmic gas, dark dust, and glowing stars that obscure our view, lies the Hidden Galaxy captured by @NASAHubble . At a relatively bright 8.4 magnitude, this would be one of the brightest galaxies in our night sky – if it were not obscured by so much interstellar dust. This spiral galaxy located approximately 11 million light years from Earth displays intertwined tendrils of dust in spectacular arms that fan around a brilliant core of hot gas and stars. The core of this galaxy is a specific type of region where atomic hydrogen has been ionized. Regions such as this are known to be energetic birthplace of stars, where thousands of stars can form over a couple million years. Extremely hot, young blue stars emit ultraviolet light which further ionize surrounding hydrogen. Credit: NASA,@EuropeanSpaceAgency , P. Sell (University of Florida), and P. Kaaret (University of Iowa); Image processing: G. Kober (NASA Goddard/Catholic University of America) #NASA #Space #Astronomy #Hubble #Galaxies #AstroPhotography

May 16, 2022