Image: Hubble captures a captivating spiral

This image shows the spiral galaxy NGC 5037, in the constellation of Virgo. First documented by William Herschel in 1785, the galaxy lies about 150 million light-years away from Earth. Despite this distance, we can see the delicate structures of gas and dust within the galaxy in extraordinary detail. This detail is possible using Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), whose combined exposures created this image.

WFC3 is a very versatile camera, as it can collect ultraviolet, visible, and infrared light, thereby providing a wealth of information about the objects it observes. WFC3 was installed on Hubble by astronauts in 2009, during Servicing Mission 4 (SM4).

SM4 was Hubble's final Space Shuttle servicing mission, expected to prolong Hubble's life for at least another five years. Twelve years later, both Hubble and WFC3 remain very active and scientifically productive.