The Hubble survivor ends his 2021 with a great photo

What a year for Hubble! The most popular of the space telescopes experienced a thousand and one adventures in 2021, but Grandpa continues to defy beyond his canonical age; He ends his year on a high note with an amazing shot Scientific warning.

We have discovered the galaxy NGC 3568, whose volumes have always been well highlighted by NASA crews. It is representative of a particular type of spiral galaxy, baptized Prohibited spiral galaxies By Edwin Hubble himself Sequence with his name.

Unlike other representatives of the genus, the arms of these galaxies do not emerge directly from the center; They start at the edges of the bar of stars, which often creates amazing photos like the ones used to create these images.

Because like all images coming from a space telescope, the end result is not directly captured by Hubble. It is a combination of numerous images taken by various instruments, which are then integrated and colored by astronomers.

Amateur astronomers at the center of the process

Another interesting aspect unknown in this film is the short story that led to it. Nothing is possible without the contribution of a team of New Zealand amateur astronomers. In 2014, they discovered a brief, but very intense flash from the Centaur constellation. Curiously, the latter began a small investigation to find out the origin.

They were far from imagining how lucky they were; NASA has confirmed that they witnessed a supernova explosion 57 million light-years from Earth. However, it is a quick and difficult phenomenon to observe astronomers hunting on a daily basis to unravel the mysteries of galaxy life. So the agency called to take a closer look at the good old hubby. It was the data he brought back during this visit that was able to create this amazing image.

The Hubble year was full of news in between Contributions are still needed, His Recurrent fractures And the recent departure of his new accompaniment, The James Webb Space Telescope. The latter can push these kinds of observations further and further; Because he sees in infrared rays, he can observe the birth of stars directly through clouds of gas and dust to observe them in their nursery.

All of which are beautiful promises that Hubble has not expired. Anyway, this is a good decision for NASA, the resolution of 2022 should definitely extend as much as possible this wonderful adventure that lasted for more than thirty years. Both of these complementary instruments are now in orbit, and 2022 will certainly be a great antiquity for astronomers.