Radiant Revelations: Hubble Space Telescope Records Rare Radio Galaxy

NASAEstablished in 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an independent agency of the United States Federal Government that succeeded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). It is responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. Its vision is "To discover and expand knowledge for the benefit of humanity." Its core values are "safety, integrity, teamwork, excellence, and inclusion." NASA conducts research, develops technology and launches missions to explore and study Earth, the solar system, and the universe beyond. It also works to advance the state of knowledge in a wide range of scientific fields, including Earth and space science, planetary science, astrophysics, and heliophysics, and it collaborates with private companies and international partners to achieve its goals.” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]”>NASA’s Hubble Space TelescopeThe Hubble Space Telescope (often referred to as Hubble or HST) is one of NASA's Great Observatories and was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990. It is one of the largest and most versatile space telescopes in use and features a 2.4-meter mirror and four main instruments that observe in the ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. It was named after astronomer Edwin Hubble.” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]”>Hubble Space Telescope has captured a stunning image of the lenticular galaxy NGC 612, characterized by its orange and blue hues.

A striking orange and blue streak fills this new image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble’s visible and infrared capabilities captured this edge-on view of lenticular galaxy NGC 612. Lenticular galaxies have a central bulge and disk much like spiral galaxies, but they lack the characteristic arms. They typically have older star populations and little ongoing star formation. In NGC 612, dust and cool hydrogen gas make up the majority of the galactic disc, the plane of matter we see in orange and dark red. This galaxy appears in the Sculptor constellation and is easily visible from Earth’s southern hemisphere.

Characteristics of NGC 612

NGC 612 is an active galaxy, which means that its center appears more than 100 times brighter than the combined light of its stars. It is also a Seyfert galaxy, the most common type of active galaxy. Seyfert galaxies emit large amounts of infrared radiation despite looking normal in visible light. NGC 612 is a Type II Seyfert, which means matter near the center of the galaxy moves rather calmly around the nucleus. The stars in this galaxy are unusually young, with ages around 40 to 100 million years.

Radio Emissions and NGC 612’s Uniqueness

NGC 612 is also an extremely rare example of a non-elliptical radio galaxy, a type of galaxy that shows significant radio emissions – in this case, an association with radio source PKS 0131-36. Astronomers have only discovered five such radio-emitting lenticular galaxies in the universe. One theory attributes NGC 612’s unusual radio emissions to a past interaction with a companion spiral galaxy. Another theory focuses on the galaxy’s bright and dominant bulge, which is similar to those seen in elliptical radio galaxies. By imaging this galaxy, astronomers hope to uncover more about what causes galaxies to emit radio waves.

Historical Background and Measurements

British astronomer John Herschel discovered NGC 612 in 1837. It is about 400 million light-years from Earth and has a mass of around 1.1 trillion times that of our Sun.