A new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows M91, a spiral galaxy 55 million light-years away from Earth. In the constellation Coma Berenices is a barred spiral galaxy that hides an astronomical beast. At its center is a supermassive black hole that weighs between 9.6 and 38 million times as much as the Sun.
Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 captured the image, which can see ultraviolet, visible and near infrared radiation. The European Space Agency, which shared the image, said it was part of an effort to create a wealth of scientific data examining the relationships between new stars and the cool gas clouds in which they develop.
SEE ALSO: HUBBLE CATCHES A TRIANGLE IN SPACE AFTER 2 MILK CAPS collide
📷 This NASA/ESA @HUBBLE_space Telescope image shows barred spiral galaxy M91 which, like our own Milky Way galaxy, contains a supermassive black hole at the center 👉 pic.twitter.com/T5R5P7ht9n
— ESA (@esa) Apr 11, 2022
To accomplish this, astronomers used Hubble to obtain ultraviolet and visible observations of galaxies previously observed at radio wavelengths by the ground-based Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA).
Hubble is one of NASA’s most valuable and long-lived space observatories. Launched in 1990 by the space shuttle Discovery, the observatory has made more than 1.5 million observations in its lifetime.
Messier 91 is located about 56 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices. French astronomer Charles Messier discovered this galaxy in 1781 and described it as a starless nebula, fainter than Messier 90.
SEE ALSO: HUBBLE RECORDING THE INTERACTION OF 2 MILK CLIPS ABOUT 320 MILLION LIGHT YEARS AHEAD
Messier 91 is part of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies and is located in the Local Supercluster. Classified as a barred spiral galaxy, it is also known as M91, NGC 4548, IRAS 12328+1446, and LEDA 41934.
“While Messier 91’s prominent bar makes for a stunning galactic portrait, it also obscures an astronomical beast. Like our own Milky Way, Messier 91 contains a supermassive black hole at its center.” According to Hubble Astronomersâ€
Cover Image: Hubble/Twitter