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Resting near the centre of the northerly constellation Cepheus, high in the northern sky, is the barred spiral galaxy UGC 11861, the subject of the latest Hubble\u00a0Picture of the Week.<\/p>\n
UGC 11861 is located 69 million light-years away from Earth \u2014 which may seem a vast distance, but it\u2019s just right for Hubble to grab this majestic shot of the galaxy\u2019s\u00a0spiral arms\u00a0and the short but brightly glowing bar in its centre. Among the cloudy gases and the dark wisps of dust, this\u00a0galaxy\u00a0is actively forming new stars, visible in the glowing blue patches in its outer arms.<\/p>\n
This activity has resulted in three\u00a0supernova\u00a0explosions being spotted in and nearby UGC 11861, in 1995, 1997 and 2011. The earlier two were both Type II supernovae, a kind which results from the collapse of a massive\u00a0star\u00a0at the end of its life. This Hubble image was made from data collected to study Type II supernovae and their environments.<\/p>\n
[Image Description:<\/i>\u00a0A spiral galaxy with two broad spiral arms wrapping around a large central region, which has a glowing white bar in the very centre. Thin strands of dark dust lie over much of the galaxy. The arms have small and large patches of glowing blue light, emitted by new stars. The galaxy is on a dark background. In the foreground, bright stars with four points are dotted around.]<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n