Produced by: Tarun Mishra
The Hubble Space Telescope has unveiled a distant galaxy, named IC 4633, situated approximately 100 million light years away from Earth.
IC 4633 is identified as a spiral galaxy residing in the constellation Apus, according to a statement by NASA.
Credit: NASA
NASA notes that IC 4633 exhibits abundant star-forming activity and houses an active galactic nucleus at its core. There are over a billion stars present in this part of the universe.
Credit: NASA
However, the galaxy's features are partially obscured by a swath of dark dust, primarily covering the lower right portion of the image.
This dark cloud, known as MW9 or the South Celestial Serpent, is a dark nebula within the Chamaeleon star-forming region.
Representative pic
Positioned around 500 light-years away in the Milky Way galaxy, the Chamaeleon region's dark clouds occupy a substantial portion of the southern sky.
Described as an integrated flux nebula (IFN), the dark nebula represents a vast expanse of gas and dust faintly illuminated by the collective light of the galaxy's stars.
Scientists study the cloud, particularly the Cha I region, renowned for its abundance of young stars. Both the Hubble Telescope and the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope have captured images of this intriguing celestial feature.