Cette image du télescope spatial Hubble montre la galaxie NGC4826, une galaxie spirale située à 17 millions d’années-lumière dans la constellation de Coma Berenices (la chevelure de Bérénice). Cette galaxie est souvent appelée “œil noir” ou “œil mauvais” en raison de la bande de poussière sombre qui balaie un côté de son noyau brillant. Crédit : ESA/Hubble & ; NASA, J. Lee et l’équipe PHANGS-HST, Remerciements : Judy Schmidt
Une galaxie est un ensemble d’étoiles, de poussières, de gaz et de matière noire maintenus ensemble par la gravité. Les galaxies contiennent entre quelques centaines de millions et cent trillions d’étoiles.
Les galaxies sont des collections de étoilesde poussières, de gaz et de particules. matière noirequi sont liées entre elles par l’attraction gravitationnelle résultant de leur propre masse. Une petite galaxie naine contient quelques millions d’étoiles, tandis que les plus grandes galaxies connues peuvent contenir jusqu’à cent trillions d’étoiles.
Il existe de nombreuses morphologies différentes de galaxies, notamment les galaxies elliptiques et galaxies spirales. De nombreuses galaxies, dont la Milky Way, have supermassive black holes at their centers. If the black hole is active, then the galaxy’s active core is classified as an active galactic nucleus (AGN). Galaxies are highly dynamic, evolving considerably throughout their lifetimes and interacting with one another.
As they are so large and bright, it is possible to study galaxies that are extremely far away — galaxies more than 13 billion light-years distant from Earth have been observed. The speed of light is finite, meaning that, for example, if a galaxy 13 billion light-years away is observed, it is seen how it was 13 billion years ago. This makes the study of galaxies a fascinating opportunity to study ‘fossils’ from the history of the Universe, thus providing clues to how the Universe has evolved over time.
Une galaxie est un ensemble d’étoiles, de poussières, de gaz et de matière noire qui sont liés entre eux par la gravité. Les galaxies contiennent entre quelques centaines de millions et cent trillions d’étoiles. Crédit : ESA/Hubble, ESA, ;” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{” attribute=””>NASA & L. Calçada
One of the main scientific justifications for building Hubble was to measure the size and age of the Universe and test theories about its origin. Using Hubble, astronomers were able to study young galaxies in the early Universe and the most distant primeval galaxies.
Hubble has imaged and studied galaxies of all kinds, including elliptical, spiral, and irregular galaxies, and of various different sizes, including dwarf galaxies. In this image of Messier 60 and NGC 4647, Hubble has imaged both an elliptical and a spiral galaxy, allowing for a clear comparison of the two galaxy types. Elliptical galaxies, the yellow fuzzy objects seen in the image, are most often found close to the centers of galaxy clusters, while spirals, the bluish patches, are usually found further out and more isolated.
Galaxy. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST Team
Hubble has also observed beautiful, rare galaxy merging events, during which galaxies undergo dramatic changes in their appearance and in their stellar content. These systems are excellent laboratories in which to trace the formation of star clusters under extreme physical conditions.
Some of Hubble’s most popular images have been of galaxies. You can explore the vast ESA/Hubble archive of more than 1500 galaxy images here.
