Hubble sees spiral galaxy with spectacular curving arms

This latest picture from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows NGC 4423, a galaxy that lies about 55 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. Though it seems to have quite an irregular form, in reality, it is a spiral galaxy.

Sharing the image, the European Space Agency wrote, "If NGC 4423 were viewed face-on it would resemble the shape that we most associate with spiral galaxies: the spectacular curving arms sweeping out from a bright centre, interspersed with dimmer, darker, less populated regions. But when observing the skies we are constrained by the relative alignments between Earth and the objects that we are observing: we cannot simply reposition Earth so that we can get a better face-on view of NGC 4423."

In the image above, visible dust and stars outline the galaxy's disc, which is surrounded by a glowing halo above and below. A few bright stars appear against the dark background surrounding the galaxy.

📷 This NASA/ESA @HUBBLE_space Telescope image showcases the spiral galaxy NGC 4423.🌌 The galaxy has spectacular curving arms sweeping out from a bright centre, interspersed with dimmer, darker, less populated regions. 🔭 But when observing from Earth it looks rather… pic.twitter.com/TMworBzEzn

— ESA (@esa) March 4, 2024