Hubble Captures Stunning Images of Spiral Galaxies NGC 4900 and NGC 5530, Revealing Cosmic Illusions and Supernova History.

The Hubble Space Telescope has released images of two spiral galaxies, NGC 4900 and NGC 5530, showcasing the telescope's capabilities across different eras. NGC 4900, located 45 million light-years away in Virgo, appears near a star within the Milky Way, creating an optical illusion due to their vast distance disparity. Data for this image was collected using the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2), spanning two different observing programs focused on understanding the demise of massive stars and studying supernovae. NGC 5530, a 'flocculent' spiral galaxy approximately 40 million light-years away in the constellation Lupus, was also captured. This galaxy, with a diameter of about 60,000 light-years, is characterized by its patchy and indistinct spiral arms. A bright source near its center is not an active black hole but a star within our own galaxy. In 2007, a supernova, SN 2007it, was discovered in NGC 5530 by amateur astronomer Robert Evans, highlighting the serendipitous nature of such discoveries.