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Pictured here is the captivating barred spiral galaxy NGC 2525. Located nearly 70 million light-years from Earth, this galaxy is part of the constellation of Puppis in the southern hemisphere. Together with the Carina and the Vela constellations, it makes up an image of the Argo from ancient greek mythology.
Another kind of monster, a supermassive black hole, lurks at the center of NGC 2525. Nearly every galaxy contains a supermassive black hole, which can range in mass from hundreds of thousands to billions of times the mass of the Sun.
Hubble has captured a series of images of NGC 2525 as part of one of its major investigations; measuring the expansion rate of the Universe, which can help answer fundamental questions about our Universe's very nature. ESA/Hubble has now published a unique time-lapse of this galaxy and its fading supernova, clearly visible on the left in this image.
The supernova is formally known as SN2018gv and was first spotted in mid-January 2018. Supernovae like this one can be used as cosmic tape measures, allowing astronomers to calculate the distance to their galaxies.
Image Credit: ESA/Hubble and NASA, A. Riess and the SH0ES team
Acknowledgment: Mahdi Zamani
Image enhancement: Jean-Baptiste Faure
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