The Hubble Space Telescope captured this clear view of NGC 4535, dubbed the “Lost Galaxy”.
ESA / Hubble & NASA, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST team
There are many beautiful galaxies out there in the universe, but it is difficult to overcome a truly sublime spiral, the kind of galaxy that spins curved and sparkling arms in the darkness of space. This is what is on display in a new portrait of the Hubble Space Telescope of the galaxy NGC 4535.
NGC 4535 has an engaging nickname: the Lost Galaxy. In fact, it is not lost in space, but the nickname comes from how it is with equipment that is not as sophisticated as Hubble.
“Despite the incredible quality of this image, taken from the NASA / ESA Hubble Space Telescope, NGC 4535 has a cloudy, somewhat ghostly appearance when viewed from a smaller telescope,” said the European Space Agency in a statement Friday.
According to ESA, amateur astronomer Leland S. Copeland saw the galaxy in the 1950s and gave it the extravagant nickname of Lost Galaxy in honor of its ethereal appearance.
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NASA also shared the image this week. NASA and ESA jointly operate Hubble. The space telescope image shows an impressive amount of detail. The bright blue dots are where young, hot stars stand out. The lighter colors near the middle highlight older and cooler stars.
The visualization of the lost galaxy is part of high-resolution angular physics research in the nearby galaxies, or PHANGS, which includes a collection of data on the formation of stars. The galaxy resides in the constellation Virgo at a distance of 50 million light years from Earth, but Hubble feels close to home.
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