Hubble captures galaxy NGC 3156

This dream-like picture from the NASA/ESA Hubble House Telescope options the galaxy generally known as NGC 3156. It lies about 73 million light-years from Earth, within the minor equatorial constellation Sextans.

NGC 3156 is a lenticular galaxy, with two seen threads of darkish reddish-brown dust crossing the galaxy’s disk. This galaxy sort is known as for his or her lens-like look when considered from the facet or edge-on. They fall someplace between elliptical and spiral galaxies and have properties of each. Like spirals, lenticulars have a central bulge of stars and a big disk surrounding it. They typically have darkish dust lanes like spirals, however no large-scale spiral arms. Like ellipticals, lenticular galaxies have largely older stars and little ongoing star formation.

Astronomers have studied NGC 3156 in some ways—from its cohort of globular clusters (roughly spherical teams of stars certain collectively by their gravitational attraction), to the celebs being destroyed by the supermassive black hole at its coronary heart. Utilizing Hubble information, they in contrast stars close to the galaxy’s core to these in galaxies with equally sized black holes. They discovered that NGC 3156 has a higher-than-average share of stars devoured up by its supermassive black hole when in comparison with its counterparts.