Hubble Focuses Narrow Portion of a Spiral Galaxys Disk

Using the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) instrument aboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, a team of astronomers was recently able to focus down a narrow portion of the disk surrounding the large spiral galaxy NGC 4565.

The study resulted in the creation of one of the most detailed images of this structure ever produced. One of the most interesting aspects of this structure is that it's an edge-on galaxy, meaning that it is oriented perpendicularly to our line of sight.

Astronomers refer to NGC 4565 as the Needle Galaxy, simply because it appears as a very thin streak of light in the night sky when viewed from far away. The structure is located around 40 million light-years away from Earth, and is estimated to be around 33 percent larger than the Milky Way.

“Studying galaxies like NGC 4565 helps astronomers learn more about our home, the Milky Way. At a distance of only about 40 million light-years, NGC 4565 is relatively close by, and being seen edge-on makes it a particularly useful object for comparative study,” NASA says in a press release.

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Via: Hubble Focuses Narrow Portion of a Spiral Galaxys Disk