An image from the Hubble Space Telescope shared this week shows the “Serpentine” galaxy with twisted, snake-like arms, aptly located in the constellation Serpent, or Serpent. The galaxy, technically known as NGC 5921, is located 80 million light-years away, according to a digitaltrend report. .
NGC 5921 is a type called a narrow spiral galaxy. Like our Milky Way, the bar refers to a bright band of light through the center of the galaxy, a region of dust and gas where many stars are born – and then shine brightly.
About half of all known galaxies have bars, and researchers believe they evolve as galaxies age, and dust and gas are pulled toward their center by gravity.
The image was taken as part of Hubble’s study of how supermassive black holes in the hearts of galaxies are related to the stars within, and Hubble used the Wide Field Camera 3 instrument to capture the image, which was combined with data from the Gemini Earth Observatory.
The Hubble scientists wrote: “The two telescopes helped astronomers better understand the relationship between galaxies such as NGC 5921 and the supermassive black holes that they contain, and Hubble’s contribution contributed to determining the masses of stars in galaxies.
Hubble also made measurements that helped calibrate observations from Gemini, and together Hubble and Gemini provided astronomers with a count of nearby supermassive black holes in a variety of galaxies.”
Hubble and Gemini have collaborated before in the past, for example when observations from both telescopes were combined with data from NASA’s Juno spacecraft to learn more about Jupiter’s complex atmosphere.