Produced by: Tarun Mishra
The Hubble Space Telescope has released a new image of the spiral galaxy NGC 3430, located 100 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Leo Minor.
The image reveals NGC 3430 as a classic spiral galaxy with pronounced lanes of gas and dust. Bright blue regions in the spiral arms indicate active star formation, while orange spots in the image show distant background galaxies.
Several other galaxies are situated near NGC 3430, though outside the image frame. One neighboring galaxy's gravitational influence has contributed to the star formation observed in NGC 3430.
While both NGC 3430 and the Milky Way are spiral galaxies, the Milky Way is classified as a barred spiral galaxy due to its central bar of older stars. In contrast, NGC 3430 is a "classic" spiral galaxy without this central bar.
The classification of galaxies into shapes like spiral, barred spiral, lenticular, elliptical, and irregular was first proposed by astronomer Edwin Hubble in 1916. NGC 3430's structure might have influenced Hubble’s galaxy classification scheme.
Research from the late 1990s indicates that NGC 3430 shows evidence of tidal interactions with the neighboring galaxy NGC 3424, which could affect its structure.
Hubble has been operational for over three decades, orbiting Earth at approximately 320 miles (515 kilometers) above the surface. Recently, NASA extended its mission by shifting to a one-gyro mode after three of its gyroscopes failed.
An independent panel has proposed potential changes to Hubble's operations, including reducing instrument modes to align with budget constraints. The James Webb Space Telescope may cover some of the lost capabilities. The current images from Hubble, including the detailed view of NGC 3430, are likely to be cherished as long as the telescope remains operational.