The hubble space telescope got an amazing view of the spiral galaxy NGC 4571which is approximately 60 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Coma Berenices.
This constellation, whose name translates as Bernice’s Hair, It was named after an Egyptian queen who lived more than 2,200 years ago.
Despite how majestic the spiral galaxies like NGC 4571, they are far from the largest structures known to astronomers. NGC 4571 is part of the Virgo cluster, which contains more than a thousand galaxies. This cluster is, in turn, part of the larger Virgo Supercluster, which also encompasses the Local Group that contains our own Milky Way galaxy.
Hubble & @NASAWebb make a dream team for studying planet formation!
These protoplanetary disks were seen around young stars in the Orion Nebula by Hubble. Once Webb begins science operations, its infrared images of disks can be compared with Hubble’s: https://t.co/bep5vdVgSy pic.twitter.com/WPWi8Kw6Og
— Hubble (@NASAHubble) March 28, 2022
This image comes from a large observing program designed to produce a collection of combined observations from two large observatories: Hubble and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). ALMA is a vast telescope consisting of 66 high-precision antennas high in the Chilean Andes, which together observe in wavelengths between infrared and radio waves. This allows ALMA to detect the clouds of cold interstellar dust that give rise to new stars.
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Meanwhile, Hubble’s sharp observations in ultraviolet wavelengths allow astronomers to pinpoint the locations of hot, luminous, newly formed stars.
Together, the ALMA and Hubble observations provide a vital repository of data for astronomers studying star formation, as well as laying the groundwork for future science with the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, NASA reports.