NASA and ESA's eye in the sky, the Hubble Space Telescope, spotted another stellar spiral galaxy in space. The newly detected galaxy was located in the Hunting Dog constellation.
The spiral galaxy is known as NGC 4707. Hubble managed to capture a high-resolution image of the galaxy that shows its formation.
The image is so detailed that some smaller stars that haven't been detected before were identified for the first time using the image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. In order to produce a high-resolution image of the galaxy, Hubble used its Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS).
Scientists are particularly interested in studying other forms of galaxies including spirals. The name of the galaxies usually begins with New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars (NGC).
It was in 1789 when astronomer William Herschel first discovered the spiral galaxy in the Hunting Dog constellation also known as Canes Venatici, according to a report.
Herschel described NGC 4707 a small galaxy categorized as stellar. A galaxy can be called a spiral if it has loose, undefined arms. The bulges inside a galaxy also affect its category; spirals have a very small to none bulge on the center where stars were seen scattered against the black backdrop with a dominant blue glow.
"The blue smudges seen across the frame highlight regions of recent or ongoing star formation, with newborn stars glowing in bright, intense shades of cyan and turquoise," a NASA official said in a press release.
The Hubble Space Telescope has been "chasing down" galaxies and providing clearer pictures of the formations in the sky to allow scientists to better understand them.
It was established that the spiral galaxy found in the Hunting Dog or Canes Venatici constellation is about 22 million light-years away from the planet, according to a report.
After more than 20 years, the Hubble Space Telescope finally captured more information about Herschel's discovery, the spiral galaxy NGC 4707.