There is one more add-on to the list of Hubble’s new images. Using its Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), the NASA/ESA Hubble space telescope captured a stellar whirlpool- a spiral galaxy NCG 7329.
Capturing this colorful image is not easy as it seems. This image was obtained by combining multiple observations of the same object obtained using different filters.
Hubble observations process this image using four different filters. Each filter spans another region of the light spectrum, from the ultraviolet to optical and infrared.
The NGC 7329 is a spiral galaxy located some 149 million light-years away in the constellation Tucana. Also known as ESO 109-12, IRAS 22369-6644, and LEDA 69453, the galaxy is a member of the NGC 7329 (LGG 462) group, an assemblage of more than ten galaxies linked together by gravity.
Hubble astronomers said, “Specialised image processors and artists can make informed judgments about which optical colors best correspond to each filter used. They can then color the images taken using that filter accordingly. Finally, the images taken with different filters are stacked together, and voila! The colorful image of a distant galaxy is complete, with colors as representative of reality as possible.”