Hubble Space Telescope image of the spiral galaxy UGC 12295, located about 192 million light-years away in the constellation Pisces. It has been under study since a supernova was first discovered there in 2015. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Filippenko, J. Lyman
Two teams of astronomers used Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 to study UGC 12295, a spiral galaxy in the constellation Pisces, following a supernova discovery in 2015. While the first team investigated supernova remnants to understand matter evolution, the second studied the nature of their former supernova system.
The serene spiral galaxy UGC 12295 rests in this image NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Located about 192 million light-years away in the constellation Pisces, this galaxy is nearly face-on from Earth, displaying a bright central bar and tightly wound spiral arms.
Although it appears as an island of calm in this image, UGC 12295 hosted a catastrophically violent explosion – a supernova – that was first detected in 2015. This supernova prompted two different astronomers to suggest the Hubble observations of UGC 12295’s probe.
Supernovae are the explosive deaths of massive stars and are responsible for forging many of the elements found on Earth. The first team of astronomers used Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) to examine the detritus left behind by supernovae to better understand the evolution of matter in our universe.
A second team of astronomers also used WFC3 to explore the supernova aftermath of UGC 12295, but their investigation focused on returning to the sites of some of the best-studied nearby supernovae. Hubble’s keen vision can reveal the lingering signatures of these energetic events, shedding light on the nature of the systems that host supernovae.