#Hubble-spanning

[space-pics]

Dark Clouds in Rosette Nebula (35th Anniversary Image) by NASA Hubble Space Telescope

This is a Hubble Space Telescope photo of a small portion of the Rosette Nebula, a huge star-forming region spanning 100 light-years across and located 5,200 light-years away. Hubble zooms into a small portion of the nebula that is only 4 light-years across (the approximate distance between our Sun and the neighboring Alpha Centauri star system.) Dark clouds of hydrogen gas laced with dust are silhouetted across the image. The clouds are being eroded and shaped by the seething radiation from the cluster of larger stars in the center of the nebula (NGC 2440). An embedded star seen at the tip of a dark cloud in the upper right portion of the image is launching jets of plasma that are crashing into the cold cloud around it. The resulting shock wave is causing a red glow. The colors come from the presence of hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen.

[apod]

2025 May 28

Herbig-Haro 24 Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Heritage (STScI / AURA) / Hubble-Europe Collaboration Acknowledgment: D. Padgett (GSFC), T. Megeath (University of Toledo), B. Reipurth (University of Hawaii)

Explanation: This might look like a double-bladed lightsaber, but these two cosmic jets actually beam outward from a newborn star in a galaxy near you. Constructed from Hubble Space Telescope image data, the stunning scene spans about half a light-year across Herbig-Haro 24 (HH 24), some 1,300 light-years or 400 parsecs away in the stellar nurseries of the Orion B molecular cloud complex. Hidden from direct view, HH 24's central protostar is surrounded by cold dust and gas flattened into a rotating accretion disk. As material from the disk falls toward the young stellar object, it heats up. Opposing jets are blasted out along the system's rotation axis. Cutting through the region's interstellar matter, the narrow, energetic jets produce a series of glowing shock fronts along their path.

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250528.html

[spacevoyagerx]

Veil Nebula

The Veil Nebula is a stunning supernova remnant located in the constellation Cygnus, often referred to as the "Wings of the Swan" .

It is approximately 1,500 light-years away from Earth and spans about 110 light-years across.

The nebula is composed of ionized gas and dust, and it is known for its intricate and delicate filaments, which are the remnants of a massive star that exploded around 8,000 years ago.

The Veil Nebula is divided into several parts, with the most prominent sections being the Eastern Veil (NGC 6992) and the Western Veil (NGC 6960).

Credits: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

[mindblowingscience]

The ice-giant planet Uranus, which travels around the sun tipped on its side, is a weird and mysterious world. Now, in an unprecedented study spanning two decades, researchers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have uncovered new insights into the planet's atmospheric composition and dynamics. This was possible only because of Hubble's sharp resolution, spectral capabilities, and longevity. The team's results will help astronomers to better understand how the atmosphere of Uranus works and responds to changing sunlight. These long-term observations provide valuable data for understanding the atmospheric dynamics of this distant ice giant, which can serve as a proxy for studying exoplanets of similar size and composition.

Continue Reading.

[of-stars-and-dust]

Astronomy Picture of the Day

2005 January 12

Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1300

Credit: Hubble Heritage Team, ESA, NASA

Big, beautiful, barred spiral galaxy NGC 1300 lies some 70 million light-years away on the banks of the constellation Eridanus. This Hubble Space Telescope composite view of the gorgeous island universe was released at this week's meeting of the American Astronomical Society as one of the largest Hubble images ever made of a complete galaxy. NGC 1300 spans over 100,000 light-years and the Hubble image reveals striking details of the galaxy's dominant central bar and majestic spiral arms. In fact, on close inspection the nucleus of this classic barred spiral itself shows a remarkable region of spiral structure about 3,000 light-years across. Unlike other spiral galaxies, including our own Milky Way, NGC 1300 is not presently known to have a massive central black hole.

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA)

NASA Official: Jay Norris.

A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC

& Michigan Tech. U.

[klimkovsky]

Globular star cluster Messier 9

Globular star cluster Messier 9 by Hubble Space Telescope

Messier 9, or M9, is a fascinating globular star cluster located in the constellation Ophiuchus. Discovered by Charles Messier in 1764, it’s one of the older clusters in our galaxy, estimated to be around 12 billion years old. It sits about 25,800 light-years away from Earth and is relatively close to the galactic center—only about 5,500 light-years from it, which is pretty tight-knit compared to many other globulars.

M9 contains a couple hundred thousand stars packed into a roughly spherical region about 90 light-years across. It’s not the brightest or most prominent cluster—magnitude-wise, it’s around 7.7, so you’d need a small telescope or decent binoculars to spot it under good conditions. What’s cool about it is its mix of stars: mostly old, low-mass ones, with a good dose of metal-poor stars (meaning they’re low in elements heavier than helium), which ties into its ancient origins.

It’s also got some variable stars—like RR Lyrae types—that astronomers use to gauge distances and study stellar evolution. The cluster’s been shaped by its proximity to the galactic core, too; tidal forces have likely stripped away some of its outer stars over billions of years, giving it a slightly squashed look.

Let’s dive into the history and structure of Messier 9 (M9)

History

Messier 9 was first cataloged by Charles Messier on May 19, 1764. Messier, a French astronomer obsessed with hunting comets, spotted it while charting objects that could be mistaken for them. He described it as a "nebula without stars," which makes sense—through his modest 18th-century telescope, M9 would’ve looked like a faint, fuzzy blob. It wasn’t until later, with better instruments, that astronomers like William Herschel resolved it into a dense cluster of stars in the 1780s. Herschel’s observations helped shift the understanding of these "nebulae" into what we now know as globular clusters.

M9’s historical significance grew as astronomers pieced together its age and context. By the 20th century, studies of its stellar population—especially its metal-poor stars—pegged it as one of the Milky Way’s ancient relics, formed roughly 12 billion years ago. That’s not long after the Big Bang itself, making M9 a window into the early galaxy. Its proximity to the galactic center also hints at a turbulent past, shaped by gravitational tussles with the Milky Way’s core over eons.

Structure

M9 is a classic globular cluster: a tight, roughly spherical ball of stars held together by gravity. It spans about 90 light-years in diameter, though its core is much denser—most of its estimated 200,000+ stars are crammed into the inner regions. The cluster’s classified as a Shapley-Sawyer Concentration Class VIII, which means it’s not the most densely packed (Class I is the tightest), but it’s still got a noticeable core concentration that loosens up toward the edges.

Its structure’s been sculpted by its environment. Being just 5,500 light-years from the galactic center—closer than most globulars—M9 feels the Milky Way’s tidal forces strongly. These forces stretch and distort it slightly, stripping away some outer stars over time. This gives it a less perfectly spherical shape than more isolated clusters, with a bit of flattening or elongation detectable in detailed observations.

The stellar makeup is telling, too. M9 is dominated by old, low-mass stars—red giants and main-sequence stars nearing the end of their lives. Its metallicity (the fraction of elements heavier than helium) is low, around 1/50th that of the Sun’s, confirming its early formation before the galaxy had much heavy-element recycling. You’ll also find variable stars like RR Lyrae types pulsing in its core, which are handy for measuring its distance (around 25,800 light-years from us) and studying its dynamics. No fancy young star-forming regions here—just a quiet, ancient assembly.

The cluster’s compactness and its tidal wear-and-tear make it a great case study for how globulars evolve near the galactic core.

Let’s connect Messier 9’s history to the Milky Way’s formation and then zoom into its core dynamics

History and the Milky Way’s Formation

M9’s ancient age—around 12 billion years—places it among the first generation of globular clusters formed in the Milky Way. Back then, the galaxy was a chaotic mess of gas, dust, and smaller proto-galaxies merging into what we know today. Globular clusters like M9 are thought to have condensed out of massive gas clouds during this early epoch, before the galactic disk fully took shape. Its low metallicity—elements heavier than helium are scarce at about 1/50th the Sun’s level—backs this up. The universe hadn’t had time to churn out much “metal” through stellar fusion and supernovae yet, so M9’s stars are made of nearly pristine primordial stuff: mostly hydrogen and helium.

Being just 5,500 light-years from the galactic center suggests M9 formed in the galaxy’s inner halo or bulge region, where star formation kicked off early and fast. Some theories propose that clusters like M9 could even be remnants of dwarf galaxies or smaller stellar systems that got swallowed up by the growing Milky Way. Over billions of years, as the galaxy settled into its spiral structure, M9’s orbit kept it close to the core, exposing it to intense gravitational forces. These interactions likely stripped away some of its mass—stars on the outskirts got peeled off into the galactic halo—linking its history directly to the Milky Way’s violent assembly. It’s like a fossil record of the galaxy’s youth, preserved despite the chaos around it.

Core Dynamics

Now, zooming into M9’s core—it’s where the action (or what passes for action in a 12-billion-year-old cluster) happens. The core is dense, with stars packed so tightly that their mutual gravity drives some wild dynamics. M9’s a Class VIII globular, so its core isn’t as insanely concentrated as a Class I cluster (like M15), but it’s still compact enough for stellar interactions to shape its evolution. The inner region’s probably only a few light-years across, stuffed with thousands of stars buzzing around at high speeds—tens to hundreds of kilometers per second.

This density leads to stellar collisions and close encounters, though actual smash-ups are rare because stars are small compared to the space between them. More common are gravitational “slingshots” that fling lower-mass stars outward, leaving heavier ones—like white dwarfs or neutron stars—to sink toward the center via a process called mass segregation. Over time, this concentrates the core even more. M9’s core might even harbor a few exotic remnants—maybe a low-mass black hole or binary systems of compact objects—though nothing’s confirmed yet.

The variable stars, like RR Lyrae types, are a big deal here. They pulse with regular brightness changes, driven by internal instabilities, and their presence in the core helps map its structure. These stars also hint at dynamical heating: as stars interact gravitationally, energy gets redistributed, puffing up the core slightly against total collapse. Meanwhile, the tidal pull from the galactic center keeps tugging at the cluster, counteracting some of that inward squeeze and giving M9’s core a delicate balance between contraction and disruption.

So, M9’s history ties it to the Milky Way’s formative brawls, while its core is a slow-motion dance of gravity and survival.

Grok AI

Constellation Ophiuchus

Globular star cluster Messier 9 (M9) on the star map in Constellation Ophiuchus

A small addition to what AI said

The globular star cluster M9 is observed through the most densely populated regions of the Milky Way, rich in both stars and hydrogen nebulae, as well as interstellar dust, which partially hides this cluster from us. The absorption of light by the cluster and the filaments of dust nebulae against its background were noticed by Lord Rosse in the 19th century. The not quite round observed shape of the cluster is also due to dust screening.

In addition, the cluster is moving away from the Solar System at a very high speed - more than 200 kilometers per second. From this we can conclude that the globular star cluster M9 is not constantly near the galactic center, but only for a short time - its orbit is most likely highly elongated, and for most of its galactic year the cluster is on the periphery of the Galaxy or at an average distance from the core, possibly (and most likely) in the galactic halo, and not in the plane of the spiral arms. But now it is passing through the galactic plane and actively losing stars (but who knows - maybe it is acquiring new ones to replace the lost ones, capturing them on its way... although the mechanism of such capture has not yet been studied by science and is only assumed). But the approach to the core of the Galaxy, of course, greatly weakens the gravitational bonds between the stars of the cluster, which leads to large losses in the number of stars every couple of hundred million years, when the cluster again returns to the central part of the Galaxy.

Astronomers observe the globular star cluster Messier 9. Vision by Grok AI

[the-captain-and-his-suga]

A Glimpse Into Stellar Birth

The Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995.

The Pillars of Creation is one of the most famous images captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. It shows towering columns of gas and dust within the Eagle Nebula (also known as M16), located about 6,500 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Serpens.

The Pillars of Creation were formed from dense clouds of gas and dust. These clouds are the raw material for new stars. Intense radiation and stellar winds from nearby young, hot stars compress the gas, causing it to collapse and form new stars. As these stars shine brightly, their powerful radiation erodes and shapes the surrounding gas, creating the iconic column-like structures. This process of star birth and destruction continues to shape the pillars. Though we observe them as they were 6,500 years ago, the structures may have already changed or been destroyed by now.

---------------------------------✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧---------------------------------

FUN FACTS:

The name "Pillars of Creation" was given because the columns seem to resemble fingers reaching out, suggesting the "creation" of stars in these regions.

The Pillars are just a small part of the much larger Eagle Nebula, which spans about 4,000 light-years across.

The dark regions in the pillars are dense clumps of gas and dust where new stars are being born. These regions are difficult to see in visible light but are revealed in infrared wavelengths.

[livingforstars]

Proplyds: Infant Solar Systems? - October 17th, 1996.

"Are planets common in our galaxy? Strong evidence that the answer is "yes" was provided in this 1994 image made by the Hubble Space Telescope . A close-up of the Orion Nebulae, it reveals what seem to be disks of dust and gas surrounding newly formed stars. These fuzzy blobs, called "proplyds," appear to be infant solar systems in the process of formation. Of the five stars in this field, which spans about 0.14 light years, four appear to have associated proplyds - three bright ones and one dark one seen in silhouette against the bright nebula. A more complete survey of 110 stars in the region found 56 with proplyds. If extra-solar planetary systems are commonplace, are there extra-terrestrial civilisations out there as well?"

[uncontrolledfission]

NGC 602: Oyster Star Cluster, 2024-07-02

The clouds may look like an oyster, and the stars like pearls, but look beyond. Near the outskirts of the Small Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy some 200 thousand light-years distant, lies this 5 million year old star cluster NGC 602. Surrounded by its birth shell of gas and dust, star cluster NGC 602 is featured in this stunning Hubble image, augmented in a rollover by images in the X-ray by the Chandra Observatory and in the infrared by Spitzer Telescope. Fantastic ridges and swept back gas strongly suggest that energetic radiation and shock waves from NGC 602's massive young stars have eroded the dusty material and triggered a progression of star formation moving away from the star cluster's center. At the estimated distance of the Small Magellanic Cloud, the featured picture spans about 200 light-years, but a tantalizing assortment of background galaxies are also visible in this sharp view. The background galaxies are hundreds of millions of light-years -- or more -- beyond NGC 602.

Credits: NASA's 'Astronomy Picture Of The Day.'

[space-pics]

Complex Shells of an Elliptical Galaxy by NASA Hubble Space Telescope

This Hubble Space Telescope image captures the central region of the gigantic elliptical galaxy NGC 474. Located some 100 million light-years from Earth, NGC 474 spans about 250,000 light-years across – that’s 2.5 times larger than our own Milky Way galaxy! Along with its enormous size, NGC 474 has a series of complex layered shells that surround its spherical core. The cause of these shells is unknown, but astronomers theorize that they may be the aftereffects of the giant galaxy absorbing one or more smaller galaxies. In the same way a pebble creates ripples on a pond when dropped into the water, the absorbed galaxy creates waves that form the shells.

[apod]

2025 March 6

Starburst Galaxy Messier 94 Image Credit: ESA/Hubble and NASA

Explanation: Beautiful island universe Messier 94 lies a mere 15 million light-years distant in the northern constellation of the hunting dogs, Canes Venatici. A popular target for earth-based astronomers, the face-on spiral galaxy is about 30,000 light-years across, with spiral arms sweeping through the outskirts of its broad disk. But this Hubble Space Telescope field of view spans about 7,000 light-years or so across M94's central region. The sharp close-up examines the galaxy's compact, bright nucleus and prominent inner dust lanes, surrounded by a remarkable bluish ring of young, massive stars. The massive stars in the ring appear to be less than about 10 million years old, indicating the galaxy experienced a corresponding well-defined era of rapid star formation. As a result, while the small, bright nucleus is typical of the Seyfert class of active galaxies, M94 is also known as a starburst galaxy. Because M94 is relatively nearby, astronomers can explore in detail reasons for the galaxy's burst of star formation.

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250306.html

[spacevoyagerx]

Orion Nebula

The Orion Nebula, also known as M42, is one of the most famous and studied nebulae in the night sky. It is located in the Milky Way, in the Orion constellation, and is easily visible to the naked eye.

The Orion Nebula is situated approximately 1,500 light-years away from Earth.

It is a diffuse nebula, primarily composed of hydrogen gas and dust. The nebula is a region of active star formation, where new stars are being born from the surrounding gas and dust.

The Orion Nebula spans about 24 light-years across and contains a young, open cluster of stars known as the Trapezium, which is responsible for much of the illumination of the surrounding gas.

Credits: NASA, ESA, M. Robberto (Space Telescope Science Institute/ESA), and the Hubble Space Telescope Orion Treasury Project Team

[gardenofeden5457]

a size comparison all 17776 characters (and a few more) (voy1, voy2 and clipper) (i would have included the iss too but it was twice as big as juice so)

from left to right: pioneer 9, pioneer 10, voyager 2, voyager 1, hubble, jupiter icy moons explorer, europa clipper

inspired by this post, from @literal-bot-account

also yeah voy1 and voy2 are different sizes. voy1's dish is bigger by 3 cm

for 9, i measured by body size. for 10, voy1 and voy2, i measured by dish diameter. for hubble, i measured by length. for juice and clipper, i measured by solar panel span

also here's the chart. so u can see exact sizes (made with this website)

[of-stars-and-dust]

Astronomy Picture of the Day

2005 April 9

Inside the Elephant's Trunk

W. Reach (SSC/Caltech) et al., JPL, Caltech, NASA

Explanation: In December of 2003, the world saw spectacular first images from the Spitzer Space Telescope, including this penetrating interior view of an otherwise opaque dark globule known as the Elephant's Trunk Nebula. Seen in a composite of infrared image data recorded by Spitzer's instruments, the intriguing region is embedded within the glowing emission nebula IC 1396 at a distance of 2,450 light-years toward the constellation Cepheus. Previously undiscovered protostars hidden by dust at optical wavelengths appear as bright reddish objects within the globule. Shown in false-color, winding filaments of infrared emission span about 12 light-years and are due to dust, molecular hydrogen gas, and complex molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons or PAHs. The Spitzer Space Telescope was formerly known as the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) and is presently exploring the Universe at infrared wavelengths. Spitzer follows the Hubble Space Telescope, the Compton Gamma-ray Observatory, and the Chandra X-ray Observatory as the final element in NASA's space-borne Great Observatories Program.

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA)

NASA Official: Jay Norris.

A service of: EUD at NASA / GSFC

& Michigan Tech. U.

[klimkovsky]

Warped Spiral Galaxy ESO 510-13

Warped Spiral Galaxy ESO 510–13 by Hubble Space Telescope

This galaxy is a fascinating object, located about 150 million light-years away in the southern constellation Hydra. It’s a spiral galaxy, but unlike the typical flat, orderly disks we often picture when we think of spirals — like the Milky Way or Andromeda — ESO 510-13 has a strikingly warped structure. Its disk, which spans roughly 100,000 light-years across, is bent and twisted, giving it a unique, almost contorted appearance when viewed edge-on.

The warping is most noticeable in its equatorial dust plane, a dark band of interstellar dust and gas that cuts across the galaxy. This dust lane is silhouetted against the bright central bulge — a dense, smooth region packed with older stars — which makes the distortion stand out even more. The galaxy’s disk isn’t just a static, solid plate; it’s a dynamic collection of billions of stars, gas, and dust, all orbiting the galactic center under the influence of gravity. Normally, these disks flatten out over time due to the sticky collisions of gas clouds during a galaxy’s formation, but ESO 510-13’s shape suggests something disrupted that process.

Astronomers think the most likely culprit for this warp is a gravitational interaction with another galaxy. It could have been a close encounter — or even a collision — with a nearby galaxy that tugged on ESO 510-13’s disk, pulling it out of shape. Some speculate this might have involved a merger with a smaller, gas-rich dwarf galaxy, with the dust lane still settling into a more stable, flat configuration. The idea is supported by the fact that warped disks aren’t entirely rare — our own Milky Way has a subtle warp, though nothing as dramatic as this. In ESO 510-13’s case, the distortion is so pronounced that it’s been captured in stunning detail by the Hubble Space Telescope, which imaged it in 2001 using its Wide Field Planetary Camera 2.

What’s also intriguing is the evidence of ongoing activity in the warped regions. In the outer parts of the disk, especially on one side, you can see bright patches of blue stars — hot, young ones that have recently formed. This suggests that the gravitational upheaval might have compressed gas clouds, triggering new star formation. It’s a vivid reminder that galaxies aren’t static; they’re shaped by chaotic, messy interactions over cosmic timescales.

There’s still plenty we don’t fully understand, though. The exact cause of the warp — whether it was a single dramatic event or a series of interactions — isn’t pinned down. The dynamics of how these warped disks evolve, rebound, and eventually flatten out are also still being studied. ESO 510-13 is like a snapshot of a galaxy caught mid-transformation, offering a glimpse into the forces that sculpt the universe’s grand spirals.

Grok AI

Constellation Hydra

Additional information from Human

To say that some object - for example, a galaxy, nebula or star cluster - is located in the constellation Hydra means to say almost nothing. Not everyone knows this, but Hydra is the largest constellation. And it is not so much large as long. It begins from the constellations of the winter sky, bordering on Canis Minor and Monoceros. And Hydra ends at the junction of the spring and summer constellations, touching the borders of Libra and Virgo, its tail just short of reaching the Claws of Scorpio. The head of Hydra, located north of the celestial equator, is clearly visible in winter and early spring. And the tail of Hydra, plunging deep into the southern celestial hemisphere, is visible in late spring and early summer. Hydra seems to connect the winter and summer groups of constellations. But it is quite difficult to see it in its entirety in the sky. Because when the head of Hydra is visible, the tail is still below the horizon. But when the tail of Hydra rises, its head leaves the visible part of the sky.

So, the galaxy ESO 510-13 is located in the tail of Hydra - literally on the border with the constellation Centaurus. Its declination is -30 degrees. It is inconvenient to observe the galaxy ESO 510-13 from the northern hemisphere of the Earth, especially given its low brightness, which is weaker than the 13th magnitude. It is not surprising that there is only one decent picture of this star city on the Internet - taken by the Hubble telescope - and who else could show this galaxy in detail? Pictures from most other telescopes are not very impressive.

It may seem that this galaxy is not very large, since its images are so nondescript (even the Hubble picture does not create the feeling of something very large). But the thing is that the galaxy ESO 510-13 is quite far from us. It is not at the edge of the Universe, but it is not in our immediate intergalactic environment either. The distance to it is 150 million light years. You can compare how far it is: The Andromeda Galaxy is 2.5 million light years away. The Sombrero Galaxy (which is also visible edge-on) is 30 million light years away. And this curved universal "propeller" is 150 million light years away. This is a lot - even for Hubble. But nevertheless, the space telescope has revealed many details that arouse interest in this galaxy more and more.

The size of the galaxy ESO 510-13 corresponds to the size of the Milky Way - it is in many ways similar to our Galaxy. It has the same diameter - 100 thousand light years. It is also spiral (although we don't know - it has a bridge from the core to the spiral arms - this is not visible when viewed from the edge). And what is most important for us - our Milky Way Galaxy also has a significant curvature of the spiral arms. Usually astronomers carefully say that the deformation of the galactic disk of the Milky Way is small. But how did we know this? Only by indirect signs - when studying its shape from the inside. And from the inside, you can see little.

How much can you say about the shape of your house, being inside it, and never going outside? Or - being on the surface of the Earth, is it easy to verify its sphericity? It's not that easy. That is why many people still cannot accept the sphericity of the Earth's shape as truth. It is approximately the same with the shape of the galaxy. Being inside it, it is very difficult to understand how it looks from the outside. But, fortunately, we have the opportunity to see other galaxies from the outside, and draw some conclusions, understand the reasons and correlation of what is happening there with what is happening with our Galaxy.

Our galaxy is constantly absorbing other galaxies - those that are smaller. That is why it has grown to such gigantic sizes - 100 thousand light years - this is a very large galaxy. But each absorption necessarily deforms the Milky Way. And the next deformation begins long before the absorption or merger. For example, dwarf galaxies located near the Milky Way - the Magellanic Clouds - are already noticeably influencing the shape of the spiral arms of our star city, pulling them in their direction.

It is also interesting that after the merger, the deformation does not disappear by itself. It may happen that it will acquire a stable character, catching a resonance wave, when the bend will start to swing first to one side of the galactic equator, then to the other, as if falling under the galactic plane, and soaring from under it on the second half of the turn of the galactic orbit. Incidentally, this is exactly how the Sun moves around the center of our Galaxy - its galactic orbit does not lie exactly in the plane of the galactic disk, but makes sinusoidal oscillations - dives through the plane of the spiral arms. The passage of the Sun and the Solar System through densely populated regions of the Milky Way correlates with some processes in the Earth's biosphere, such as mass extinctions and evolutionary bursts in the appearance of new species. And this, too, may have a cause associated with galactic mergers in the history of the Milky Way.

It is quite possible that the galaxy ESO 510-13 in the tail of the constellation Hydra is literally showing us our history, only from a very large distance - both in space and in time.

Warped Spiral Galaxy ESO 510-13 in the SIMBAD Astronomical Database

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Hubble rings in the new year with image of constellation Hydra

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image reveals a tiny patch of sky in the constellation Hydra. The stars and galaxies depicted here span a mind-bending range of distances. The objects in this image that are nearest to us are stars within our own Milky Way galaxy.

You can easily spot these stars by their diffraction spikes, lines that radiate from bright light sources, like nearby stars, as a result of how that light interacts with Hubble's secondary mirror supports. The bright star that sits just at the edge of the prominent bluish galaxy is only 3,230 light-years away, as measured by ESA's Gaia space observatory.

Behind this star is a galaxy named LEDA 803211. At 622 million light-years distant, this galaxy is close enough that its bright galactic nucleus is clearly visible, as are numerous star clusters scattered around its patchy disk. Many of the more distant galaxies in this frame appear star-like, with no discernible structure, but without the diffraction spikes of a star in our galaxy.

Of all the galaxies in this frame, one pair stands out: a smooth golden galaxy encircled by a nearly complete ring in the upper-right corner of the image. This curious configuration is the result of gravitational lensing that warps and magnifies the light of distant objects. Einstein predicted the curving of spacetime by matter in his general theory of relativity, and galaxies seemingly stretched into rings like the one in this image are called Einstein rings.

The lensed galaxy, whose image we see as the ring, lies incredibly far away from Earth: we are seeing it as it was when the universe was just 2.5 billion years old. The galaxy acting as the gravitational lens itself is likely much closer. A nearly perfect alignment of the two galaxies is necessary to give us this rare kind of glimpse into galactic life in the early days of the universe.