This “Ordinary” Spiral Galaxy Explodes With Star Birth and Black Hole Power

NGC 7456 may look like just another spiral galaxy, but it’s full of surprises.

From vibrant star-forming regions glowing pink to mysterious ultraluminous X-ray sources, it’s a cosmic laboratory for astronomers.

A Hidden Galaxy With a Story to Tell

At first glance, this galaxy might look ordinary, one spiral among countless others scattered across the Universe. But the subject of the ESA/Hubble Picture of the Week, known as NGC 7456, holds far more than meets the eye. It lies more than 51 million light-years away in the constellation Grus (the Crane).

The image highlights the uneven spiral arms of NGC 7456, laced with pockets of dark dust that block starlight. Scattered across the galaxy are brilliant pink regions, glowing clouds of gas where new stars are taking shape. Their intense light excites the surrounding material, producing the distinctive red glow that signals stellar birth. The Hubble program gathered this data as part of its effort to study galactic evolution, tracking the formation of stars, clouds of hydrogen, and star clusters over time.

Extreme X-Ray Powerhouses

Hubble, with its ability to capture visible, ultraviolet and some infrared light, is not the only observatory focused on NGC 7456. ESA’s XMM-Newton satellite has imaged X-rays from the galaxy on multiple occasions, discovering a number of so-called ultraluminous X-ray sources. These small, compact objects emit terrifically powerful X-rays, much more than would be expected for their size. Astronomers are still trying to pin down what powers these extreme objects, and NGC 7456 contributes a few more examples.

On top of that, the region around the galaxy’s supermassive black hole is spectacularly bright and energetic, making NGC 7456 an active galaxy. Whether looking at its core or its outskirts, at visible light or X-rays, this galaxy has something interesting to show!

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