Magnificent Details in a Dusty Spiral Galaxy
Depicts: NGC 4414, IRAS 12239+3129
Copyright: Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI/NASA)
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In 1995, the majestic spiral galaxy NGC 4414 was imaged by the Hubble
Space Telescope as part of the HST Key Project on the Extragalactic
Distance Scale. An international team of astronomers, led by Dr. Wendy
Freedman of the Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington,
observed this galaxy on 13 different occasions over the course of two
months.
Images were obtained with Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2)
through three different color filters. Based on their discovery and
careful brightness measurements of variable stars in NGC 4414, the Key
Project astronomers were able to make an accurate determination of the
distance to the galaxy.
Last Update: 1 September 2019