The Hubble Telescope Has Just Discovered A New Galaxy (And It’s 60 Million Light-Years Away!)
NASA’s Hubble Telescope has captured a spectacular sideways view of a galaxy 60 million light-years away. According to the Huffington Post, the 45-light-year-long galaxy, known as IC 335, is one of four star systems located in the Fornax Dwarf Galaxy.
There are three types of galaxies: elliptical, spiral and irregular. Classifying IC 335 is difficult because NASA’s photo only shows its edge.
As of now, USA Today reports, scientists are calling it an “SO,” or lenticular galaxy, which are characterized by mainly a thin disk of stars and a bulge. Dr. Jay M. Pasachoff, professor of astronomy at Williams College in Massachusetts, told The Huffington Post in an email, “It clearly isn’t an elliptical galaxy since it looks flat, but it doesn’t seem to have matter between the stars… so the scientists involved classify it as an intermediate type between spirals and ellipticals.”
Much like elliptical galaxies, SO galaxies are mostly made of aging stars.
Scientists have yet to determine how SO galaxies form, with the two most dominant theories stating they are either single, faded, spiral galaxies or the product of two spiral galaxies merging together.
Source: Sean Levinson via Elite Daily
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