On 13 May 2024, the ESA/Hubble team released this gorgeous image of NGC 4753, a nearly edge-on view of a lenticular galaxy in the constellation Virgo.
The filament-like spiral arms seen in this image are believed to be the result of collisions with other galaxies within the NGC 4753 Group of galaxies within the larger Virgo II Cloud, which comprises about 100 galaxies and galaxy clusters.
At a distance of about 60 million light years from Earth, you’re seeing this galaxy as it appeared during the Paleogene Period, when mammals and birds began to rapidly diversify in the absence of dinosaurs and other reptilian megafauna.
About lenticular galaxies
A lenticular galaxy is an intermediate class of galaxy that features an elliptical shape and a large disc of gas and dust, but with ill-defined spiral arms and very little ongoing star formation. Most of the stars within these galaxies are aging stars.
Origins
The origins of lenticular galaxies remains debated in the field of astronomy, but there are three main theories:
- Lenticular galaxies are faded spiral galaxies, quietly aging into dispersed obscurity. If true, this may help explain how anemic (gas-poor) spiral galaxies form.
- Lenticular galaxies are the result of a merger between two or more galaxies long ago, resulting in an internal kinematic structure between that of a spiral and elliptical galaxy. If true, this would also help explain why lenticular galaxies tend to possess more globular clusters than expected.
- Lenticular galaxies are merely elliptical galaxies that have picked up enough gas and dust to form a pronounced disk around its compact central bulge of aging stars. If true, the kinematic structure of lenticular galaxies may be of primordial origins rather than a recent formation. For example, a huge ancient lenticular galaxy succumbing to the ram-pressure stripping of gas by other nearby galaxies, resulting in a much smaller but still ancient lenticular galaxy.