The main purpose of the galaxy image is to fill in the gaps in Hubble’s observations of known galaxies located near our Milky Way.
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Dwarf galaxy UGC 7983 (file photo)
A small asteroid appeared in the vicinity of dwarf galaxy UGC 7983 when it was photographed by Hubble Space Telescope.
UGC 7983 is a small galaxy located 30 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo, and is described by the European Space Agency as a dwarf irregular galaxy.
Many other galaxies appear in the background in the image, and bright stars can also be detected, but the main attention focused on the path of the asteroid passing in front of it.
#HubbleTopImage This barred spiral galaxy is moving at the astounding speed of 1564 km per second. For context, the Earth orbits the Sun at about 30 km per second. Read more about it here: https://t.co/L87PLfZACj
???? @esa / @HUBBLE_space & @NASA M. Stiavelli, P. Erwin et al. pic.twitter.com/hprRJ8APnN
— HUBBLE (@HUBBLE_space) January 19, 2023
“A small asteroid, only a few kilometers across, can be seen passing the upper left side of the image,” the European Space Agency said.
The asteroid path takes the form of 4 lines of light separated by small gaps of light.
The image consists of 4 exposures combined together, which is why the asteroid appears as 4 stripes.
The European Space Agency described the asteroid capture as a “lucky side effect”.
The main purpose of the galaxy image was to fill in the gaps in Hubble’s observations of known galaxies located near our own Milky Way galaxy.
Dwarf irregular galaxy “UGC 7983” and countless galaxies reflectedhttps://t.co/kDAdz0WliE
“In this image, you can find not only UGC 7983 but also various galaxies such as spiral galaxies and elliptical galaxies.”#sorae pic.twitter.com/Idb1Rr1gXi
— Sorae Space portal site (@sorae_jp) January 18, 2023
Hubble, a joint project of the European Space Agency and NASA, has been in operation for more than 3 decades.
While the telescope is known for its stunning images of galaxies, planets and nebulae, it has also turned out to be an expert asteroid finder. Last year, the European Space Agency revealed that asteroid hunters had identified more than 1,700 asteroid tracks in archival Hubble images.
Hubble helps scientists learn more about the orbits and sizes of asteroids.