NASA's Hubble Telescope catches sight of a dwarf galaxy 26 million-light years away

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope recently spotted a rare and tiny galaxy in the backdrop of massive distant galaxies. Named UGCA 307, the galaxy is made up of a band of stars emitting red bubbles of gas. According to the space agency's official website, the dwarf galaxy lies 26 million light-years from Earth in the constellation of Corvus.

The diminutive galaxy does not have a well-defined structure, and on the telescope, it appears as a hazy blob of stars. The image was captured by Hubble through its Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), which was attached to it in 2002 as part of the Servicing Mission 3B. Before the ACS, the telescope had European Space Agency-built Faint Object Camera.

The crystal-clear image is a part of the telescope's ongoing mission to explore every close galaxy known to mankind. Prior to this, NASA's Hubble deeply scrutinised nearly three quarters of galaxies located nearby. It ended up finding bright stars and was able to understand how stars are situated in each galaxy. 

NASA's Hubble telescope spots spiral galaxy, documents an asteroid collision

Earlier this month, the Hubble Space Telescope shared surprising visuals of a collision between NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) asteroid and an asteroid moonlet named Dimorphos. While the collision occurred last year, its visuals were only released this month. 

Lately, the telescope has spotted a number of galaxies, including one that is irregularly shaped. Dubbed NGC 5486, the galaxy was observed to have spirals and pink-tinted wisps. It was found that the galaxy was located to the relatively bigger Pinwheel Galaxy, which is also known for its well-defined spiral arms.