Bright, starry spiral arms surround an active galactic center in this new image of galaxy NGC 4951 from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.
Located in the constellation Virgo, NGC 4951 is approximately 50 million light years from Earth. It is classified as a Seyfert galaxy, which means it is a type of extremely energetic galaxy with an active galactic nucleus (AGN). However, Seyfert galaxies differ from other types of AGN because the galaxy itself can still be clearly seen: the different types of AGN are so bright that it is almost impossible to observe the actual galaxy in which they reside.
AGNs like NGC 4951 work with supermassive black holes. As matter spins toward the black hole, it generates radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum, causing the AGN to shine brightly, NASA reports.
Hubble helped show that supermassive black holes exist at the core of almost every galaxy in our universe. Before the telescope was launched into low-Earth orbit in 1990, astronomers only theorized its existence. The mission verified its existence by observing the undeniable effects of black holes, such as jets of material ejected from black holes and disks of gas and dust that rotate around those black holes at very high speeds.
These observations of NGC 4951 were taken to provide valuable data for astronomers studying how galaxies evolve, with a focus on the star formation process.
Hubble collected this information, which is combined with observations with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to support a JWST Treasury program. This type of program collects observations that focus on the potential to solve multiple scientific problems with a single, coherent data set and enable a variety of compelling scientific investigations.
