This eye-catching image gives us a new perspective on the spiral galaxy Messier 90 from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Thilker, J
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows the impressive spiral galaxy Messier 90 (M90, NGC 4569) in the constellation of Virgo. In 2019, Hubble released an image of M90 created using Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) data taken in 1994, shortly after its installation.
WFPC2 images have a distinctive stair-step pattern due to the sensor layout. In 2009, Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) replaced WFPC2. Hubble used WFC3 in 2019 and again in 2023 when it changed its aperture to Messier 90. That data yielded this surprising new image, providing a more complete view of the galaxy’s dusty disk. A gaseous halo and its bright core.
The inner region of M90’s disk is the site of star formation, seen here in the red H-alpha light from the nebula. M90 is located within the relatively nearby Virgo Cluster of galaxies, and its orbit was near the center of the cluster about 300 million years ago.
The gas density of the inner cluster weighed down on M90 like a strong headwind, stripping vast amounts of gas from the galaxy and forming the diffuse halo visible around it. This gas is no longer available to form new stars in M90, and the spiral galaxy eventually dies out.
M90 is located 55 million light-years from Earth, but it is one of the few galaxies that are close to us. Its orbit through the Virgo cluster has accelerated so much that M90 is on the verge of escaping the cluster altogether. Coincidentally, it is moving in our direction.
Astronomers measured other galaxies in the Virgo cluster with similar velocities, but in opposite directions. As M90 continues to move toward us over billions of years, it will also evolve into a lenticular galaxy.
quotation: Hubble captures new view of galaxy M90 (October 18, 2024) from https://phys.org/news/2024-10-hubble-captures-view-galaxy-m90.html October 18, 2024 obtained in
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