A spiral so inclined

The stately and inclined spiral galaxy NGC 3511 is the subject of this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Picture of the Week. The galaxy is located 43 million light-years away in the constellation Crater (The Cup). From Hubble’s vantage point in orbit around Earth, NGC 3511 is tilted by about 70 degrees, intermediate between face-on galaxies that display picture-perfect spiral arms and edge-on galaxies that reveal only their dense, flattened discs.

Astronomers are studying NGC 3511 as part of a survey of the star formation cycle in nearby galaxies. For this observing programme, Hubble will record the appearance of 55 local galaxies using five filters that allow in different wavelengths, or colours, of light.

One of these filters allows only a specific wavelength of red light to pass through. Giant clouds of hydrogen gas glow in this red colour when energised by ultraviolet light from hot young stars. As this image shows, NGC 3511 contains many of these bright red gas clouds, some of which are curled around clusters of brilliant blue stars. Hubble will help astronomers catalogue and measure the ages of these stars, which are typically less than a few million years old and several times more massive than the Sun. 

[Image Description: A spiral galaxy in space. It is seen tilted at an angle, as a stormy disc filled with clouds of stars and dust. It is coloured more yellowish in the centre, and bluer out to the edge of the disc, where the ends of curved spiral arms break away from the disc. Spots of red light scattered through the galaxy mark where stars are actively forming. The galaxy is on a black background.]