Hubble telescope looks deep into the Needle's Eye in this dwarf spiral galaxy photo

By Elizabeth Howell published 1 day ago

There's a mysterious X-ray source and other unknowns in this Hubble telescope photo of the Needle's Eye galaxy.



A zoomed-in view of a section of the Needle's Eye, a dwarf spiral galaxy known as NGC 247, in this newly released Hubble Space Telescope view. (Image credit: NASA, ESA, and H. Feng (Tsinghua University); Image processing: G. Kober (NASA Goddard/Catholic University of America))


A fresh image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows a deep view of the eye of a galactic needle.

The spiral galaxy is nicknamed the "Needle's Eye", although more officially it is known as NGC 247 and Caldwell 62. NASA said May 10 the nickname is appropriate given this galaxy is a dwarf spiral, making it a relatively small group of stars compared to our own Milky Way.

The Hubble Space Telescope image portrays a hole on the other side of the galaxy, which NASA said puzzles astronomers. "There is a shortage of gas in that part of the galaxy, which means there isn’t much material from which new stars can form," the agency wrote.



A wider view of the Needle's Eye galaxy as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope. (Image credit: NASA, ESA, and H. Feng (Tsinghua University); Image processing: G. Kober (NASA Goddard/Catholic University of America))

"Since star formation has halted in this area, old, faint stars populate the void. Scientists still don’t know how this strange feature formed, but studies hint toward past gravitational interactions with another galaxy," the agency added.

More:
https://www.space.com/hubble-telescope-needles-eye-galaxy-photo