New Delhi: The US space agency NASA recently released a beautiful image of a spiral galaxy.
Spiral galaxy is unique like snowflakes and make up approximately 60 percent of the galaxies in the local universe.
This is demonstrated by the striking face-on spiral galaxy NGC 6814, whose luminous nucleus and spectacular sweeping arms, rippled with an intricate pattern of dark dust.
NGC 6814 has an extremely bright nucleus, a telltale sign that the galaxy is a Seyfert galaxy.
As NGC 6814 is a very active galaxy, many regions of ionized gas are studded along its spiral arms. In these large clouds of gas, a burst of star formation has recently taken place, forging the brilliant blue stars that are visible scattered throughout the galaxy.
The luminous heart of NGC 6814 is a highly variable source of X-ray radiation, causing scientists to suspect that it hosts a supermassive black hole with a mass about 18 million times that of the sun.
The image is captured by NASA/ESA's Hubble Space Telescope.
Source: NASA/European Space Agency
