# @nasa on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/Ci8oAe_M468
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/365424-nasa-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/a157bd04c0.jpg
- **Posted:** 2022-09-25T22:56:59.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** NASA (@NASA) — https://gondola.cc/NASA

## Caption

Space Spiral 🌀

Located about 80 million light-years away in the constellation Camelopardalis, this galaxy pictured by NASAHubble unfurls its gorgeous spiral arms in a cosmic display.

The galaxy is characterized as both an intermediate spiral and an active galactic nuclei. As an intermediate spiral, the galaxy is neither “barred” nor “unbarred," meaning it doesn’t have a well-defined “bar” of stars at its galactic center, nor are its spirals tightly bound. Additionally, as an active galactic nuclei, this galaxy has a notably bright center that far outshines the rest of the galaxy at certain wavelengths of light. This likely means that the galaxy has a supermassive black hole at its core which churns out bright jets and winds that helps to shape its iconic spiraling shape.

Although eye-catching, on a cosmic level this galaxy is a fairly common type of active galactic nuclei.

There are several methods in use for classifying galaxies according to their morphologies, or forms, the most famous of which is the Hubble sequence, devised by Edwin Hubble, the namesake of the Hubble Space Telescope. Although his sequence was expanded upon by later astronomers, much of modern galaxy classification is done via computations instead.

Image Description: The galaxy NGC 1961 is pictured by the Hubble Space Telescope. A massive swirling galaxy dominates the image. In the center of the image, the galactic core is visible shining brightly white. The inner swirls of the galaxy are wisps of blue and stellar dust. Towards the outskirts of the galaxy, glittering blue regions of bright young stars dot the dusty spiral arms. In the corners of the image, the blackness of space permeates the image with small colorful dots of distant galaxies visible.

Credit: NASA, ESA, J. Dalcanton (University of Washington), R. Foley (University of California - Santa Cruz); Image processing: G. Kober (NASA Goddard/Catholic University of America)

#NASA #Space #Galaxy #Cosmos #Stars #Universe #Hubble #Astrophotography #Spiral #NaturalArt #Telescope

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## Tags

cosmos, nasa, hubble, astrophotography, universe, space, naturalart, spiral, galaxy, telescope, stars

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