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Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have produced a spectacularly detailed image of the supernova-hosting spiral galaxy NGC 3810.
This Hubble image shows NGC 3810, a spiral galaxy some 50 million light-years away in the constellation of Leo. The color image is composed of infrared, optical and ultraviolet observations from both Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) instruments. Nine filters were used to sample various wavelengths. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / D. Sand / R.J. Foley.
NGC 3810 is located about 50 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Leo.
Otherwise known as IRAS 11383+1144, LEDA 36243 or UGC 6644, this galaxy has a diameter of 60,000 light-years in diameter.
NGC 3810 was discovered by the German-born British astronomer William Herschel on March 15, 1784.
The galaxy is a member of a small group of galaxies called the NGC 3810 group.
NGC 3810’s bright central region is thought to be forming many new stars and is outshining the outer areas of the galaxy by some margin.
Further out the galaxy displays strikingly rich dust clouds along its spiral arms.
Hot young blue stars show up in giant clusters far from the center and the arms are also littered with bright red giant stars.
In 2022, a Type Ia supernova event designated SN 2022zut was observed in NGC 3810.
“In early 2023, Hubble focused on this and a number of other galaxies to closely examine recent Type Ia supernovae,” the Hubble astronomers said in a statement.
“This kind of supernova results from a white dwarf exploding, and they all have a very consistent brightness.”
“That allows them to be used to measure distances: we know how bright a Type Ia supernova should be, so we can tell how far away it must be from how dim it appears.”
“One uncertainty in this method is that intergalactic dust in between Earth and a supernova blocks some of its light.”
“How do you know how much of the reduction in light is caused by distance, and how much by dust?”
“With the help of Hubble, there’s a clever workaround: take images of the same Type Ia supernovae in ultraviolet light, which is almost completely blocked by dust, and in infrared light, which passes through dust almost unaffected.”
“By carefully noting how much light comes through at each wavelength, the relationship between supernova brightness and distance can be calibrated to account for dust.”
“Hubble can observe both these wavelengths of light in great detail with the same instrument.”
“That makes it the perfect tool for this experiment, and indeed, some of the data used to make this beautiful image of NGC 3810 were focused on the SN 2022zut supernova. You can see it as a point of light just below the galactic nucleus.”
