The Hubble Space Telescope captured an image of galaxy NGC 4753, located around 60 million light years from Earth in the constellation Virgo.
The galaxy has a distinctive twisted, warped shape with dark brown dust lanes that give it a cobweb-like or “train wreck” appearance.
NGC 4753 is a lenticular galaxy, between a spiral and elliptical galaxy. It has a central bulge and disc like a spiral, but lacks prominent spiral arms and has older stars with little new star formation.
Its unusual shape is likely due to a merger with a dwarf galaxy around 1.3 billion years ago, which deposited the dust lanes around its nucleus.
The merger may have disturbed NGC 4753’s structure, or it may still resemble a spiral galaxy if viewed face-on.
Hubble’s new image provides the clearest view yet of NGC 4753, helping astronomers better understand its origins and evolution following the merger event long ago.
The galaxy was first discovered in 1784 and has been the site of two observed supernova explosions, which are useful for astronomers to measure distances in the universe.
Source: Live Science
