Spiral Galaxy NGC 7814 in Pegasus | Hubble Space Telescope

Spiral Galaxy NGC 7814 in Pegasus | Hubble Space Telescope

Hubble has allowed astronomers to view galaxies of all shapes and sizes from nearly every angle. When a galaxy is seen edge-on, the mesmerizing perspective reveals a dazzling slice of the universe. NGC 7814, also known as the “Little Sombrero,” is one such galaxy.

Set against a speckled backdrop of more remote galaxies, NGC 7814 features a bright central bulge, a thin disk full of dust, and a glowing halo of gas and stars that sprawls out into space.

The Little Sombrero was discovered by British astronomer William Herschel in 1784. The dusty spiral gets its nickname from the Sombrero galaxy (M104) that resembles a broad-rimmed Mexican hat and was discovered by the French astronomer Pierre Méchain just a few years earlier in 1781. Also viewed from its edge, the Sombrero galaxy is located just 28 million light-years away and looks larger than the Little Sombrero. In reality, they are nearly the same size. The Sombrero appears bigger because it is closer. With a magnitude of 10.5, the Little Sombrero is tougher to spot because it is farther away, at a distance of 40 million light-years from Earth.

Also known as Caldwell 43, the roughly 80,000-light-year-wide galaxy is billions of years old. Observers equipped with a telescope at least 7 inches in diameter will have the best luck spotting the galaxy. It resides in the constellation Pegasus. The dim, elongated galaxy is bright enough to be seen in moderately light-polluted skies. In the Northern Hemisphere, the autumn months provide the best opportunity to view NGC 7814. In the Southern Hemisphere, look for it in the springtime.

This image of NGC 7814 is a combination of visible and infrared observations captured by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys in 2006. The observations were taken to assist astronomers in studying the galaxy’s stellar populations, and to help shed light on the evolution of this galaxy and others like it.

Galaxies can take many shapes and be oriented any way relative to us in the sky. This can make it hard to figure out their actual morphology, as a galaxy's appearance can vary based on one's viewpoint. A special case is when we are lucky enough to observe a spiral galaxy directly from its edge, like in this picture.

NGC 7814 has a bright central bulge and a bright halo of glowing gas extending outwards into space. The dusty spiral arms appear as dark streaks. they consist of dusty material that absorbs and blocks light from the galactic center behind it. The field of view of this NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope image would be very impressive even without NGC 7814 in front; nearly all the objects seen in this image are galaxies as well.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
Acknowledgement: Josh Barrington
Release Date: Feb. 2, 2015

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