NASA called the galaxy "jewel-bright".
Spiral Galaxy with Jewel-Bright Spiral
NASA released an amazing image by the Hubble Space Telescope that shows a spiral galaxy at 68 million light years from Earth.
According to NASA blogs, the spiral galaxy is called NGC 1385. It is located in the constellation Fornax which is Latin for furnace. The agency described the image as "jewel-bright" and said it was taken with Hubbles Wide Field Camera 3. This camera is known for its reliability and is often called the telescope's most reliable.
ESA/Hubble & NASA J. Lee and The PHANGS-HST team
Turn on the Furnace
Nicolas-Louis de Lecaille (18th-century French astronomer) named Fornax.
Mind you, the constellation was not named for its heat. Lacaille just liked to name constellations that he found after using scientific instruments. Atlia or the air pump, Telescopium or the telescope, and Norma (or the ruler) were some of his other discoveries.
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Hubbles Back Alright
The Hubble Space Telescope was offline for one month in summer 2021 after its computer control system crashed.
It looked for a time like the spacecraft, which was 31 years old, might be gone forever. NASA was able switch the telescope to its backup computer.
The agency does not have the resources to send astronauts to fix Hubble's physical problems, so it feels like its on borrowed time. This means that the next hardware issue could be its final.
It is a pleasure to see the Hubble Space Telescope back in operation. We can only hope it will make some more amazing discoveries before it ends its mission.
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READ MORE: Hubble Sees a Galaxy in A Furnace [NASA]
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