The ESA published a photo of a so-called irregular galaxy on Wednesday. According to the European Space Agency, the collection of stars resembles a snow globe after it has been shaken vigorously. “To celebrate the holidays”, say the ESA.
An irregular galaxy has no clear shape. Many galaxies have the shape of a spiral, like our own Milky Way. Others are shaped like a sphere or lens and are called elliptical galaxies.
According to NASA, the galaxy UGC 8091 most resembles the contents of a glass snow globe after it has been shaken vigorously. It is located in the constellation Virgo, about 7 million light years away from Earth. UGC is considered a dwarf galaxy because it is relatively small and has relatively little mass.
It’s not really about a photo. NASA created the image by superimposing twelve filters. As a result, the stars can be seen in different colors. The images were taken by the Hubble telescope.
According to NASA, the red light is caused by young stars with “excited” hydrogen molecules. The other lights are from older stars and come in blue, orange and pink.
2023-12-20 19:41:21
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