NASA has released a beautiful photo taken by the Hubble Space Telescope of the lenticular galaxy NGC 612.
This Hubble image shows NGC 612, a lenticular galaxy some 388 million light-years in the constellation of Sculptor. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / A. Barth, University of California, Irvine / B. Boizelle, Brigham Young University / Gladys Kober, NASA & Catholic University of America.
NGC 612 is located approximately 388 million light-years in the constellation of Sculptor.
This lenticular galaxy was discovered by the British astronomer John Herschel on November 29, 1837.
Otherwise known as ESO 353-15 or LEDA 5827, it has a mass of around 1.1 trillion times that of our Sun.
“Lenticular galaxies have a central bulge and disk much like spiral galaxies, but they lack the characteristic arms,” Hubble astronomers said.
“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 disk, the plane of matter we see in orange and dark red.”
“This galaxy is easily visible from Earth’s southern hemisphere.”
NGC 612, which hosts an active galactic nucleus, is also classified as a Type II Seyfert galaxy.
The galaxy’s center appears more than 100 times brighter than the combined light of its stars.
“Seyfert galaxies emit large amounts of infrared radiation despite looking normal in visible light,” the astronomers said.
“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.”
“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.”
This galaxy is one of five known lenticular galaxies that show large-scale radio emissions.
“One theory attributes NGC 612’s unusual radio emissions to a past interaction with a companion spiral galaxy,” the researchers said.
“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.”
