This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image features the edge-on, intermediate spiral galaxy NGC 1827, located roughly 37 million light-years away in the constellation Columba, the Dove. Hubble captured the image as part of a survey looking at 260 satellite galaxies around 22 Milky Way–like host galaxies within a radius of about 32 million light-years from Earth.
Hubble has already observed 111 of these satellite galaxies. The remaining galaxies will take an additional 149 Hubble orbits, one orbit for each galaxy, to observe. The image, taken with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys, reveals bright-blue regions along the galaxy's disk dotted with dark dust lanes where new stars are likely forming.
A bright foreground star appears just to the left of the galaxy's bright central bulge but is located between us and the galaxy. Its four diffraction spikes are the result of light bending around the internal supports that hold Hubble's secondary mirror. Low-mass galaxies like the ones in this Hubble observing program provide a way to test the predictions of cosmological models on small scales, which struggle to match observations.
The data Hubble gathers will help us better understand and characterize the properties of low-mass galaxies in Milky Way–like systems, allowing researchers to refine cosmological models. Provided by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center MA in English, copy editor since 2021 with experience in higher education and health content. Dedicated to trustworthy science news.
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