This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features
the spiral galaxy NGC 3511.
ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Thilker
The stately and inclined spiral galaxy
NGC 3511 is the subject of this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image.
The galaxy is located 43 million light-years away in the constellation Crater
(The Cup). From Hubble’s vantage point in orbit around Earth, NGC 3511 is
tilted by about 70 degrees, intermediate between face-on galaxies that display
the full disk of the spiral and its arms, and edge-on galaxies that offer a
side view, revealing only their dense, flattened disks.
Astronomers are studying NGC 3511 as
part of a survey of the star formation cycle in nearby galaxies. For this
observing program, Hubble will record the appearance of 55 local galaxies using
five filters that allow in different wavelengths, or colors, of light.
One of these filters allows only a
specific wavelength of red light to pass through. Giant clouds of hydrogen gas
glow in this red color when energized by ultraviolet light from hot young
stars. As this image shows, NGC 3511 contains many of these bright red gas
clouds, some of which are curled around clusters of brilliant blue stars.
Hubble will help astronomers catalog and measure the ages of these stars, which
are typically less than a few million years old and several times more massive
than the Sun.
Text Credit: ESA/Hubble
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