Milky Way Map
The annotated artist's concept illustrates the new view of the Milky Way. The galaxy's two major arms (Scutum-Centaurus and Perseus) can be seen attached to the ends of a thick central bar, while the two now-demoted minor arms (Norma and Sagittarius) are less distinct and located between the major arms. NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (SSC/Caltech)

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has captured a breathtaking view of a barred spiral galaxy.

Last week, NASA shared a stunning image of NGC 7773 obtained by the Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) on the space telescope's official Twitter page. "A luminous bar-shaped structure cuts prominently through the galaxy's bright core, extending to the inner boundary of NGC 7773's sweeping, pinwheel-like spiral arms," NASA officials described the image on its website.

First discovered in October 1790 by William Herschel, NGC 7773 is located in the constellation of Pegasus about 393 million light-years away from our galaxy. It stands out from most spiral galaxies due to the presence of a bar structure in its core which scientists believe first appeared when the galaxy matured.

While some younger spiral galaxies have been spotted with barred structures, these formations are more commonly found among older spirals, thus scientists view it as a "sign of galactic maturity." The barred structures are also believed to be centers of star formation since they contain numerous young stars.

But NGC 7773's barred structure may eventually disappear. Previous studies suggested that these structures decay over time, transforming the barred spiral galaxy to a more regular spiral one. However, research also said that it is possible for barred structures to reappear after a galaxy has lost it, with the cycle from spiral to barred spiral galaxy estimated to take about 2 billion years.

Like the NGC 7773, the Milky Way Galaxy is also believed to be a barred spiral galaxy. Astronomers hope to gain a better understanding of our galaxy's history and future by studying similar structures across the cosmos.

Meanwhile, the Hubble telescope also recently shared a glimpse of the Milky Way Galaxy's future with a stunning new image. NGC 6052 was initially classified as a single, irregular galaxy by Herschel when it was first discovered in 1784. However, this galaxy actually comprises two galaxies colliding and merging into one.

The Milky Way is expected to collide with its neighboring galaxies, Andromeda and the Large Magellanic Cloud in a few billion years. The latest estimate for the Milky Way and Andromeda collision is 3.9 billion years, while our galaxy could merge with the LMC in about 2.5 billion years, according to a recent study.

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