The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken the most detailed image so far of a barred spiral galaxy called NGC 5728.
This Hubble image shows the active barred spiral galaxy NGC 5728. The color image was made from separate exposures taken in the visible and infrared regions of the spectrum with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). Four filters were used to sample various wavelengths. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Riess et al. / J. Greene.
NGC 5728 is located approximately 130 million light-years away in the southern constellation of Libra.
Also known as LEDA 52521, IRAS 14396-1702 and AGC 540121, the galaxy was discovered on May 7, 1787 by the German-born British astronomer William Herschel.
“In this image, NCG 5728 appears to be an elegant, luminous, barred spiral galaxy,” Hubble astronomers said.
“What this image does not show, however, is that NGC 5728 is also a monumentally energetic type of galaxy, known as a Seyfert galaxy.”
“This extremely energetic class of galaxies are powered by their active cores, which are known as active galactic nuclei (AGNs).”
“There are many different types of AGNs, and only some of them power Seyfert galaxies,” they explained.
“NGC 5728, like all Seyfert galaxies, is distinguished from other galaxies with AGNs because the galaxy itself can be seen clearly.”
“Other types of AGNs, such as quasars, emit so much radiation that it is almost impossible to observe the galaxy that houses them.”
“As this image shows, NGC 5728 is clearly observable, and at optical and infrared wavelengths it looks quite normal,” the astronomers said.
“It is fascinating to know that the galaxy’s center is emitting vast amounts of light in parts of the electromagnetic spectrum that Hubble’s WFC3 instrument just isn’t sensitive to!”
“Just to complicate things, the AGN at NGC 5728’s core might actually be emitting some visible and infrared light — but it may be blocked by the dust surrounding the galaxy’s core.”
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