Hubble observes the imposing spiral galaxy UGC 11860

July 7 () –

The spiral galaxy UGC 11860 seems to float serenely against a field of galaxies background in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image.

UGC 11860 lies about 184 million light-years away in the constellation Pegasus, and its calm appearance is deceptive; this galaxy recently hosted an almost unimaginably energetic stellar explosion.

A supernova explosion, the catastrophically violent end to the life of a massive star, was detected in UGC 11860 in 2014. Astronomers used Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 to search through the aftermath and analyze the lingering remnants of this huge cosmic explosion. , reports NASA.

A team explored UGC 11860 to understand more about the star systems that eventually meet their demise in supernovae. The enormously energetic processes during supernova explosions they are predominantly responsible for forging the elements between silicon and nickel on the periodic table.

This means that understanding the influence of the masses and compositions of the parent star systems is vital to explaining how many of the chemical elements originated here on Earth.