NGC 691 is an unbarred spiral galaxy located some 125 million light-years away in the constellation of Aries.
This galaxy was discovered by the German-born British astronomer William Herschel on November 13, 1786.
It is the foremost member of the NGC 691 group, a collection of nine galaxies of varied shapes and colors.
Also referred to as LEDA 6793, UGC 1305 and TC 448 in various astronomical catalogues, NGC 691 has a diameter of 130,000 light-years.
It features a multiple ring structure, with three rings recognized in the infrared light.
“Objects such as NGC 691 are observed by Hubble using a range of filters,” Hubble astronomers explained.
“Each filter only allows certain wavelengths of light to reach Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3).”
“The images collected using different filters are then colored by specialized visual artists who can make informed choices about which color best corresponds to which filter.”
“By combining the colored images from individual filters, a full-color image of the astronomical object can be recreated,” they added.
“In this way, we can get remarkably good insight into the nature and appearance of these objects.”