Sunny Priyan
Messier 77, captured by Hubble, also known as the Squid Galaxy, is a swirling spiral 45 million light-years away in Cetus, the constellation named for a whale.
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, L. C. Ho, D. Thilker
It was discovered in 1780 by Pierre Méchain and later cataloged by Charles Messier to avoid mistaking galaxies for comets during their hunts.
Image Credit: Freepik
The Squid Galaxy’s appearance is an intensely bright center surrounded by a fuzzy cloud, closely resembling one or more stars wreathed in a nebula.
Image Credit: Freepik
The spiral nebulae and the squid galaxy, scattered across the sky, were not a part of our galaxy but were separate galaxies millions of light-years away.
Image Credit: Freepik
The name ‘Squid Galaxy’ stems from the extended, a filamentary structure that curls around the galaxy’s disk like the tentacles of a squid.
Image Credit: Freepik
Hubble released an image of M77 in 2013. The updated image processing techniques allow astronomers to see the galaxy in more detail.
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, L. C. Ho, D. Thilker