Science and Exploration

Hubble Captures a Cannibal Galaxy

By Keith Cowing
Press Release
April 5, 2020
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Hubble Captures a Cannibal Galaxy
NGC 4651
NASA

This remarkable spiral galaxy, known as NGC 4651, may look serene and peaceful as it swirls in the vast, silent emptiness of space, but don’t be fooled — it keeps a violent secret.
It is believed that this galaxy consumed another smaller galaxy to become the large and beautiful spiral that we observe today.

Although only a telescope like the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, which captured this image, could give us a picture this clear, NGC 4651 can also be observed with an amateur telescope — so if you have a telescope at home and a star-gazing eye, look out for this glittering carnivorous spiral.

Text credit: ESA (European Space Agency) Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Leonard

SpaceRef co-founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.