NASA Hubble Telescope Captures Ghostly Galaxy with New Striking Image

A new image reveals the ghostly shells of a galaxy. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a striking image of a galaxy against a backdrop of other, distant galaxies.

The galaxy itself is located about 270 million light-years from Earth in the constellation of Centaurus (The Centaur), a bright constellation in the southern sky. ESO 381-12, also known as PGC 42871, is categorized as a lenticular galaxy, which is a hybrid galaxy type that share properties with both spiral galaxies and elliptical galaxies.

The delicate shells that bloom outwards from ESO 381-12 are very rarely found around this type of galaxy and their cause is a bit of a mystery. Researchers believe that this galaxy may have recently interacted with another galaxy, sending shock waves through its structure, much like ripples in a pond. These galactic mergers are violent and smash together material within the clashing galaxies. These actually change how the galaxies look and how they will evolve in the future.

Astronomers have studied the galaxy in detail because of its unusual structure. It was actually one of a sample of galaxies explored by Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys during a recent study of the properties of shell galaxies created in merger events a billion or so years ago.

The new image reveals a bit more about this galaxy. It also shows researchers a bit more about the surrounding space.

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