With more than 32 years in operation, the Hubble Space Telescope continues to send out stunning images of our universe. at this opportunity NASA has shared a new capture of spiral galaxy IC 342, also known as Caldwell 5 or the Hidden Galaxy.because it is in a place where it is difficult to see through the veil of stars, gas and dust along the Milky Way.

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According to NASA, this galaxy does not stand out in the sky, despite its relatively bright magnitude of 8.4. It appears near the equator of the Milky Way’s pearly disk, filled with dense cosmic gas, dark dust and bright stars that obscure our view. Hence its nickname The Hidden Galaxy.

This galaxy is located about 11 million light years from Earth. The image released by the space agency shows a bright frontal view of the galactic center showing rings of dust intertwined in spectacular arms surrounding glowing cores of gas and hot stars.

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According to the space agency, this core is a specific type of region called the H II core, a region of atomic hydrogen that has become ionized. These regions are places of active star birth where thousands of stars can form within two million years. Each very hot young blue star emits ultraviolet light, increasing the ionization of the hydrogen around it.

If it were not obscured by a lot of interstellar material, the hidden galaxy would be one of the brightest galaxies in our sky. It is a relatively nearby galaxy about 50,000 light-years across and billions of years old.

science writing
*With information from NASA

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