Hubble Space Telescope Views Face-On Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 4242

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken a picture of the face-on barred spiral galaxy NGC 4242.

This image, taken with the Wide Field Camera 3 on board the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows the barred spiral galaxy NGC 4242. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

NGC 4242 has a weak bar of stars cutting through its asymmetric center, and a very faint and poorly-defined spiral structure throughout its disc.

The galaxy was discovered on April 10, 1788, by the British astronomer William Herschel.

Also known as LEDA 39423 or UGC 7323, NGC 4242 lies 17.8 million light-years away in the small northern constellation of Canes Venatici.

The new image of NGC 4242 shows the galaxy’s bright center and the surrounding dimmer and more diffuse ‘fuzz.’

Despite appearing to be relatively bright in this image, studies have found that NGC 4242 is actually relatively dim — it has a moderate-to-low surface brightness and low luminosity — and also supports a low rate of star formation.

A Type IIn supernova (not visible in this Hubble image) was discovered in this galaxy on March 28, 2002, named SN 2002bu.

The image of NGC 4242 is made up of observations from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) in the ultraviolet, infrared, and optical parts of the spectrum.

It is based on data obtained through six filters.

The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter.

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