The Milky Way's Big Sister: Hubble captures new image of spiral galaxy twice as big as our own

  •  NGC 6744 measures more than 200,000 light-years across 
  • This compares to to a 100,000-light-year diameter for our home galaxy
At first glance, it resembles our Milky Way.
However, this incredible image of a spiral galaxy reveals a giant.
Measuring more than 200,000 light-years across compared to a 100,000-light-year diameter for our home galaxy, the Hubble image shows a beautiful spiral galaxy called NGC 6744 in unprecedented detail.

NGC 6744 has a prominent central region packed with old yellow stars. Moving away from the galactic core, one can see parts of the dusty spiral arms painted in shades of pink and blue; while the blue sites are full of young star clusters, the pink ones are regions of active star formation, indicating that the galaxy is still very lively.
NGC 6744 has a prominent central region packed with old yellow stars. Moving away from the galactic core, one can see parts of the dusty spiral arms painted in shades of pink and blue; while the blue sites are full of young star clusters, the pink ones are regions of active star formation, indicating that the galaxy is still very lively.
This image was taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3).
The galaxy is situated in the constellation of Pavo at a distance of about 30 million light-years, appearing as a faint, extended object in small telescopes.
'NGC 6744 is similar to our home galaxy in more ways than one,' NASA says.
Like the Milky Way, NGC 6744 has a prominent central region packed with old yellow stars. 
Moving away from the galactic core, one can see parts of the dusty spiral arms painted in shades of pink and blue; while the blue sites are full of young star clusters, the pink ones are regions of active star formation, indicating that the galaxy is still very lively.
A small, distorted companion galaxy is located nearby, which is similar to our galaxy's Large Magellanic Cloud. 
The Milky Way : The descriptive "milky" is derived from the appearance from Earth of the galaxy – a band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye.
The Milky Way : The descriptive 'milky' is derived from the appearance from Earth of the galaxy – a band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye.
SN 2005at is a Type Ic supernova, formed when a massive star collapses on itself and loses its hydrogen envelope.


HOW OLD IS THE OLDEST STAR IN THE MILKY WAY?

Scientists in Spain have discovered one of the oldest stars in the Milky Way
Scientists in Spain have discovered one of the oldest stars in the Milky Way
A newly discovered star is thought to be one of the oldest in the Milky Way.
Scientists at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) in Spain believe that it might have formed about 300 million years after the 'Big Bang'.
IAC researcher Jonay González Hernández said: 'Theory predicts that these stars could form just after, and using material from, the first supernovae, whose progenitors were the first massive stars in the Galaxy.'
Researchers hope the star, known as J0815+4729, which is in line with the Lynx constellation, will help them learn more about the Big Bang, the popular theory about the galaxy's evolution.
IAC director Rafael Rebolo said: 'Detecting lithium gives us crucial information related to Big Bang nucleosynthesis. We are working on a spectrograph of high resolution and wide spectral range in order to be able to measure (among other things) the detailed chemical composition of stars with unique properties such as J0815+4729.'
New images of the Milky Way as taken by the APEX telescopeoaded: 0%

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