40 Of The Most Mesmerizing Galaxies Captured On Telescope

Oscar Wilde once said: “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” I guess I would be that person who’s always searching for the beauty in life no matter the circumstances. And what would be more fascinated and more magical than a night sky full of stars?TheHubble Space Telescopelaunched intolow Earth orbitin 1990sunveiled vast cosmic islands in the endlesswild oceanof the universe, and here are some of the most beautiful ones.This post may includeaffiliate links.

TheHubble Space Telescopelaunched intolow Earth orbitin 1990sunveiled vast cosmic islands in the endlesswild oceanof the universe, and here are some of the most beautiful ones.

This post may includeaffiliate links.

Hoag’s Object is an unusual ring galaxy in the constellation of Serpens Caput. It is identified as either a planetary nebula or a peculiar galaxy. The galaxy has approximately eight billion stars, and is roughly 120,000 light-years across.

Hoag’s Object

W2246-0526 is the most luminous galaxy ever discovered that is cannibalizing not one, not two, but at least three smaller galaxies, which could explain its extreme brightness.

W2246-0526

The Sombrero galaxy is a peculiar galaxy of unclear classification in the constellation borders of Virgo and Corvus and located around 28 million light-years away from Earth.

Sombrero Galaxy

The Whirlpool Galaxy, also known as Messier 51a (M51a) or NGC 5194, is an interacting grand-design spiral galaxy with a Seyfert 2 active galactic nucleus. It lies in the constellation Canes Venatici and was the first galaxy to be classified as a spiral galaxy.

Whirlpool Galaxy

Phantom Galaxy or Messier 74 is a spiral galaxy in the constellation of Pisces and smaller than our own galaxy.

Phantom Galaxy or Messier 74

Large Magellanic Could is a spiral satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. It is only 160,000 light-years from Earth therefore visible to the naked eye as a faint object in the Earth’s southern hemisphere located between the constellations of Dorado and Mensa.

Large Magellanic Cloud

Before the 20th century, people didn’t know other galaxies than the Milky Way; earlier astronomers had classified them as as “nebulae,” since they looked like fuzzy clouds.It all changed in the 1920s when the astronomer Edwin Hubble showed that the Andromeda “nebula” was a galaxy in its own right. Despite the immense distance, Andromeda is the closest large galaxy to our Milky Way, and it’s bright enough in the night sky that it’s visible to the naked eye in the Northern Hemisphere.

Before the 20th century, people didn’t know other galaxies than the Milky Way; earlier astronomers had classified them as as “nebulae,” since they looked like fuzzy clouds.

It all changed in the 1920s when the astronomer Edwin Hubble showed that the Andromeda “nebula” was a galaxy in its own right. Despite the immense distance, Andromeda is the closest large galaxy to our Milky Way, and it’s bright enough in the night sky that it’s visible to the naked eye in the Northern Hemisphere.

The Black Eye Galaxy is a relatively isolated spiral galaxy 17 million light-years away in the mildly northern constellation of Coma Berenices.

The Black Eye Galaxy

This galaxy is 150 million light-years away from Earth. Astronomers mentioned, that it is one of only 2 known spiral galaxies, large enough and close enough to allow detailed observations of its crowns.

Galaxy NGC 6753

NGC 4696 is an elliptical galaxy located in the constellation Centaurus. It has a supermassive black hole that beats like a heart every 5 to 10 million years.

Galaxy NGC 4696

In 1936, because of Hubble, galaxies were grouped into four main types: spiral galaxies, lenticular galaxies, elliptical galaxies and irregular galaxies.

Elliptical galaxiescontain many older stars, but little dust and other interstellar matter. Their stars orbit the galactic center but they do so in more random directions. The universe’s largest known one may contain up to a trillion stars and span two million light-years across.

Lenticular galaxies, such asthe funny Sombrero Galaxy, are between elliptical and spiral galaxies. They have a thin, rotating disk of stars and a central bulge, but they don’t have spiral arms. Like elliptical galaxies, they have little dust and interstellar matter, and they seem to form more often in densely populated regions of space.

NGC 4388 is an active spiral galaxy in the equatorial constellation of Virgo and located at a distance of 57 million light-years from Earth.

Galaxy NGC 4388

Porpoise Galaxy or NGC 2936 is an interacting spiral galaxy located at a distance of 326 million light-years, in the constellation Hydra. NGC 2936 is interacting with elliptical galaxy NGC 2937 located just beneath it.

Porpoise Galaxy

NGC 2207 and IC 2163 are a pair of colliding spiral galaxies about 80 million light-years away in the constellation Canis Major.

NGC 2207 and IC 2163

Some galaxies are quite often parts of larger associations known as groups, clusters, and superclusters. For example, the Milky Way is in theLocal Group, a galaxy group about 10 million light-years across that also includes the Andromeda galaxy and its satellites.Sometimes, galaxies collide. Astronomers think the Milky Way and its galactic neighbor Andromeda are set to collide in another 4.5 billion years.If colliding galaxies don’t have enough momentum to move past each other, they can merge to form a single larger galaxy. Then it can look very different from the two that created it. For example, if a spiral and elliptical merge, the result could be an irregular galaxy.Some larger galaxies can also eat up the smaller ones through proximity and gravitational interactions, pulling material away to fuel their own growth.

Sometimes, galaxies collide. Astronomers think the Milky Way and its galactic neighbor Andromeda are set to collide in another 4.5 billion years.

If colliding galaxies don’t have enough momentum to move past each other, they can merge to form a single larger galaxy. Then it can look very different from the two that created it. For example, if a spiral and elliptical merge, the result could be an irregular galaxy.

Some larger galaxies can also eat up the smaller ones through proximity and gravitational interactions, pulling material away to fuel their own growth.

Galaxy I Zwicky 18 is a blue compact dwarf galaxy located about 59 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major.

Galaxy I Zwicky 18

Kiso 5639 is a dwarf galaxy, member of a class of “tadpole” galaxies so named because of their bright heads and elongated tails.

Kiso 5639

Sunflower Galaxy is a spiral galaxy in the northern constellation of Canes Venatici with approximately 400 billion stars.

Sunflower Galaxy

The Antennae Galaxies are a pair of interacting galaxies in the constellation Corvus. They currently going through a starburst phase, in which the collision of clouds of gas and dust, with entangled magnetic fields, causes rapid star formation.

The Antennae Galaxies

In 2004, NASA released the Hubble Ultra Deep Field: a tiny part of the constellation Fornax contained around 10,000 galaxies, some of which existed 13 billion years ago, less than 800 million years after the big bang. These types of snapshots are very important forscientiststo be able to study galaxies at different evolutionary stages.

NGC 2336 is a barred spiral galaxy located in the constellation Camelopardalis. It is located at a distance of circa 100 million light-years from Earth.

NGC 2336

The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy, around 13.6 billion years old and home to our own solar system.

Milky Way

NGC 2500 is a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Lynx.

Galaxy NGC 2500

Messier 77, also known as NGC 1068 or the Squid Galaxy. It is a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Cetus and about 47 million light-years away from Earth.

Messier 77

Nearly 10,000galaxiesthat were captured in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field may look like they’re randomly scattered across the sky yet they are often part of larger structures and superstructures in space.Galaxies, galaxy groups and clusters, superclusters, and galactic walls are arranged in twisting, threadlike structures called the cosmic web. The web forms as the gravitational attraction of the universe’s matter draws larger and larger objects together leading to concentrations of galaxies with voids of space in between, as if the galaxies were resting on empty bubbles. In the places where those concentrations intersect, they form larger structures like clusters and walls. The cosmic web forms a sort of scaffolding that cradles everything that exists within the universe.

Galaxies, galaxy groups and clusters, superclusters, and galactic walls are arranged in twisting, threadlike structures called the cosmic web. The web forms as the gravitational attraction of the universe’s matter draws larger and larger objects together leading to concentrations of galaxies with voids of space in between, as if the galaxies were resting on empty bubbles. In the places where those concentrations intersect, they form larger structures like clusters and walls. The cosmic web forms a sort of scaffolding that cradles everything that exists within the universe.

MACS 2129-1 is an early universe so-called ‘dead’ disk galaxy that lies approximately 10 billion light-years away from Earth. MACS 2129-1 has been described as ‘dead’ as it has ceased making new stars.

MACS 2129-1