The galaxy NGC 5728 is approximately 130 million light years distant from Earth in the southern constellation Libra. Also known as LEDA 52521, IRAS 14396-1702, and AGC 540121, the galaxy was discovered on May 7, 1787 by British astronomer William Herschel.
On this occasion, Hubble has managed to capture a spectacular image of a galaxy in deep space that has an active nucleus, similar to a “cosmic eye”. The galaxy appears to be a spiral type, like the Milky Way, but it is a Seyfert galaxy, a type of galaxy “powered by its active nuclei,” according to a NASA statement.
These galaxies are significantly brighter in the central region than the light from the remaining galaxy. “Other types of AGN, such as quasars, emit so much radiation that it is almost impossible to observe the galaxy that hosts them,” say the Hubble astronomers. However, NGC 5728 is clearly observable and at optical and infrared wavelengths, it looks “pretty normal”.
Seyfert galaxies are named after American astronomer Carl K. Seyfert, who first saw them in 1944. There are two types: Seyfert type 1 galaxies that have broad emission lines and Seyfert type 2 galaxies that have emission lines powerful.
Since its launch in April 1990, the NASA / ESA Hubble Space Telescope has made more than 1.5 million observations of the university and more than 18,000 scientific papers have been published based on its data. It orbits the Earth at a speed of approximately 27,300 kph in Earth orbit at a slightly higher altitude than the International Space Station.
