hubble
takes remarkable view of a perfectly "edge-on" galaxy
March
1, 2001 -- The Hubble telescope has snapped this remarkable view of a perfectly
"edge-on" galaxy, NGC 4013. This new Hubble picture reveals with exquisite
detail huge clouds of dust and gas extending along, as well as far above, the
galaxy's main disk. NGC 4013 is a spiral galaxy, similar to our Milky Way, lying
some 55 million light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Ursa
Major. Viewed face-on, it would look like a nearly circular pinwheel, but NGC
4013 happens to be seen edge-on from our vantage point. Even at 55 million light-years,
the galaxy is larger than Hubble's field of view, and the image shows only a little
more than half of the object, albeit with unprecedented detail.
Image Credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Acknowledgment: J.C. Howk (Johns Hopkins University) and B.D. Savage (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
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