{"id":650493,"date":"2026-05-06T01:08:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T01:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/650493\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T01:08:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T01:08:09","slug":"clusters-of-bright-blue-stars-and-glowing-red-gas-clouds-steal-the-show-in-this-new-hubble-image-of-a-glittering-galaxy-that-stopped-me-in-my-tracks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/650493\/","title":{"rendered":"Clusters of bright blue stars and glowing red gas clouds steal the show in this new Hubble image of a glittering galaxy that stopped me in my tracks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Few photos make me stop and ponder as much as those taken by the Hubble Space Telescope<\/a>. And the latest of these, published by NASA, shows a majestic spiral galaxy that the space agency describes as \u201cglittering with star clusters\u201d and humongous clouds of cosmic gas.<\/p>\n

NGC 3137 is a spiral galaxy which, in cosmic terms, is located down the road from Earth, just 53 million light-years away in the constellation of Antlia (the Air Pump). NASA says that the latest image<\/a>, crafted from observations across six different color bands, reveals the nearby galaxy in \u201cfantastic detail.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The center of the galaxy is home to an enormous black hole some 60 million times more massive than our Sun, says NASA, and this is encircled by a network of fine, dusty clouds. However, what caught astronomers\u2019 eye were the dense clusters of bright blue stars and glowing red gas clouds \u201cpeppering\u201d the galaxy, and which NASA says \u201csignal the presence of hot, young stars still encased in their birth nebulae.\u201d<\/p>\n

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NGC 3137 is especially interesting to astronomers because it travels through space within a group of galaxies thought to be similar to the Local Group, the galaxy group that contains the Milky Way. Similar to the Local Group, the NGC 3175 group contains two large spiral galaxies: NGC 3137 and NGC 3175, which Hubble has also observed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"A\n<\/p>\n

NGC 3175 is also located within the constellation of Antlia, albeit slightly closer to Earth than NGC 3137, roughly 50 million light-years away (Image credit: ESA\/Hubble & NASA, D. Rosario et al.)<\/p>\n

NASA says that NGC 3137 is highly inclined from our point of view, giving a \u201cunique perspective on its loose, feathery spiral structure.\u201d Combined with its close proximity to Earth, this makes the galaxy an ideal target for astronomers studying the cycle of stellar birth and death, as well as for shedding light on a galactic system similar to our own.<\/p>\n

Hubble’s new image is just one of the ways the telescope, which has been in orbit since 1999<\/a> is still impressing today.<\/p>\n

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