Hubble images spiral snowflake

GREENBELT, Md., May 13 (UPI) -- A new Hubble Space Telescope image reveals galaxy NGC 6814. The spiral galaxy is pictured face-on, allowing viewers to see its design in detail.

Spiral and irregular galaxies make up 60 percent of the galaxies found in local universe -- the region of space surrounding the Milky Way, stretching 500 million light-years in all directions. Despite their ubiquity, no two are exactly alike.

Each spiral galaxy is unique, like a snowflake.

NGC 6814 is active galaxy with an extremely bright nucleus. Its intense luminosity and large output of electromagnetic radiation make it a Seyfert galaxy, the second largest group of active galaxies behind quasars.

NGC 6814's center is especially active, frequently beaming out intense blasts of X-rays. Astronomers believe a supermassive black hole 18 million times more massive than the sun is responsible for the X-ray bursts.

The galaxy's spiral arms are marked by long filaments of ionized gas. Its body is dotted by blue orbs, evidence the young, hot stars scattered throughout the galaxy's many regions of intense star-formation.

The new Hubble image of NGC 6814 was processed by NASA scientists at the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center. Hubble is co-managed by NASA and the European Space Agency.