Hubble Snaps Striking New Photo of UGC 9684

NASA has released an incredibly beautiful photo taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of the spiral galaxy UGC 9684.

UGC 9684 resides approximately 240 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Boötes.

Also known as ECO 4872 or LEDA 53758, the spiral galaxy has a diameter of 90,000 light-years.

UGC 9684 is tilted diagonally and partially towards the viewer.

Its disk is cloudy and threaded with dust, without clear arms. Its bar extends across the disk from the glowing core.

“This Hubble image shows an impressive example of several classic galactic features, including a clear bar in the galaxy’s center, and a halo surrounding its disk,” the Hubble astronomers said.

“The impetus for the image was a study into the host galaxies of Type II supernovae.”

“These cataclysmic stellar explosions take place throughout the Universe, and are of great interest to astronomers, so automated surveys scan the night sky and attempt to catch sight of them.”

“The supernova which brought UGC 9684 to Hubble’s attention occurred during 2020,” they added.

“Named SN 2020pni, it has faded from view in this image, which was taken in 2023.”

“Remarkably, the 2020 supernova in this galaxy isn’t the only one that’s been seen there — four supernova-like events have been spotted in UGC 9684 since 2006, putting it up there with the most active supernova-producing galaxies.”

“It turns out that UGC 9684 is a quite active star-forming galaxy, calculated as producing one solar mass worth of stars every few years,” they said.

“This level of stellar formation makes UGC 9684 a veritable supernova factory, and a galaxy to watch for astronomers hoping to examine these exceptional events.”