Sunny Priyan
Hubble's visible and infrared capabilities captured an edge-on view of the lenticular galaxy NGC 612, showcasing its central bulge and disk without spiral arms.
NGC 612, visible in the Sculptor constellation, features a galactic disc of dust and cool hydrogen gas, seen in orange and dark red from Earth's southern hemisphere.
NGC 612 is an active Seyfert galaxy, with its center over 100 times brighter than its stars and emitting significant infrared radiation despite appearing normal in visible light.
NGC 612 is a Type II Seyfert, which means matter near the center of the galaxy moves rather calmly around the nucleus. The stars in this galaxy are unusually young, with ages around 40 to 100 million years.
NGC 612 is a rare non-elliptical radio galaxy, emitting significant radio waves linked to PKS 0131-36, possibly due to a past interaction with a companion spiral galaxy.
Discovered by John Herschel in 1837, NGC 612, located 400 million light-years away, may emit radio waves due to its bright bulge, similar to elliptical radio galaxies, and has a mass 1.1 trillion times that of the Sun.