Hubble discovers new galaxy 60 million light years awayThe Hubble Space Telescope has done it again: NASA says it’s discovered a brand new galaxy 60 million light years away from us.
The discovery of IC 335, which is part of a galaxy group containing a trio of other galaxies in the Fornax Cluster, was made public on Christmas Eve, with NASA posting about the discovery on its Facebook page. Since then, the post has garnered some 34,000 likes and 650 comments, with the breathtaking image of the galaxy being shared more than 4,000 times among other Facebook users.
The stunning image depicts the galaxy from an “edge on” vantage point, which NASA says makes it difficult to determine the full range of qualities of IC 335 as a result. However, the US space agency has been able to determine that the galaxy is at least 45,000 light years long and that it could be an “S0″ type, or lenticular, galaxy.
Lenticular galaxies, according to NASA, are intermediate-state galaxies that exist somewhere in between the spectrum of elliptical and spiral galaxies, and are characterized by a bulge and a thin stellar disk. This morphology is reminiscent of spiral galaxies; however, lenticular galaxies tend to have very little interstellar medium left over for new star formation. As a result, most of the stars in lenticular galaxies are aging ones, similar to the stellar make-up of elliptical galaxies. In addition, S0 galaxies do not have spiral arms that are as defined as the ones found in spiral galaxies, making them easily confused with elliptical galaxies when observed from the same angle that IC 335 is observed from.
NASA says that both S0 and elliptical galaxies are classified as “early-type” galaxies due to their passive evolution. However, the inherent difference between the two – or at least those that scientists believe – is that elliptical galaxies are thought to have been involved in collisions with other galaxies in the past while lenticular galaxies are suspected to be ancient spiral galaxies that have grown incredibly old but have not had any significant interactions with other galaxies in their own past. However, the space agency says that astronomers are still very much debating the issue.