(click on image to enlarge)
From NASA/ ESA, February 24, 2020: This image of an archetypal spiral galaxy was captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.
The subject of this image is known as NGC 691, and it can
be found some 120 million light-years from Earth. This galaxy was one of
thousands of objects discovered by astronomer William Herschel during
his prolific decades-long career spent hunting for, characterising, and
cataloguing a wide array of the galaxies and nebulae visible throughout
the night sky — almost 200 years before Hubble was even launched.
The intricate detail visible in this Picture of the Week
would likely be extraordinary to Herschel. Hubble was able to capture
an impressive level of structure within NGC 691’s layers of stars and
spiralling arms — all courtesy of the telescope’s high-resolution Wide Field Camera 3.Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Riess et al.
