NASA captures portraits of ‘Lost Galaxy’ in Virgo Constellation

The Hubble Space Telescope of National Aeronautics and Space Administration- NASA has captured the stunning image of ‘Lost Galaxy’ in the Virgo constellation.

Also known as ‘NGC 4535’, the galaxy is one of the largest of the 2000 or so galaxies in the Virgo cluster and is located about 50 million light-years from Earth. The images have been released by NASA as a part of an ongoing survey of 38 spiral galaxies which are located within 75 million light-years of Earth.

As per NASA, in the present times, The Lost Galaxy is not that difficult to find, specifically for the floating observatories like Hubble. The long and elegant arms of the galaxy make it a prime candidate for studying the structure of the spiral galaxies.

A galaxy far, far away...

50 million light years from Earth, in the constellation of Virgo, the "lost galaxy" NGC 4535 shines, with its delicate swirls of newborn stars, burning furiously against their cool, blue ancestors: https://t.co/vNQFvAALaU pic.twitter.com/SNoCAVPQ5n

— NASA (@NASA) January 23, 2021

Lost Galaxy: How it was found?

In the 1950s, Leland S. Copeland, an amateur astronomer when first fixed his telescope lens on a distant galaxy in the Virgo constellation, observed an eerie spiral shrouded in dust. As a professional poet, he named the spiral ‘The Lost Galaxy’, a name that still exists even after 70 years.

Similarity between ‘Milky Way’ and ‘The Lost Galaxy’:

The images captured by Hubble Telescope show the haze, that clouded the lost galaxy of Copeland, vanishes to reveal a stunning vibrant sea of stars that is not so different from ‘Milky Way’.

Like our own ‘Milky Way’, the ‘Lost Galaxy’ is a barred spiral galaxy. It is a vast swirl of stars with a distinct bar structure at its centre. As per NASA, the colors of those stars can inform a bit about the galaxy’s history.

What do the colors of stars reveal about the lost galaxy?

According to the representatives of NASA, the yellowish glow of the central bulge of the lost galaxy points the way to its oldest and coldest retinue of stars.

On the other hand, the bright colors clustered together in the spiral arms of the lost galaxy where its youngest, hottest stars congregate, lightning up the dust and gas around them.