Maryland: In the constellation Leo, about 46 million light-years from Earth, the barred spiral galaxy NGC 3507 shines brightly in a stunning image captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. Unlike typical spiral galaxies, NGC 3507’s arms extend from the ends of a bright central bar made of stars, giving it a unique and striking pinwheel shape.
While this galaxy appears alone in the image, it is part of a pair. Its companion, NGC 3501, lies just outside the frame and looks very different because we see it edge-on, appearing as a sleek silver streak. This contrast shows how our perspective changes how we see galaxies.
Along with these galaxies, a nearby star from our own Milky Way shines with four spikes of light, located just 436 light-years away. The Hubble Space Telescope, launched in 1990 by NASA and the European Space Agency, captured this detailed image from its orbit 340 miles above Earth.
Hubble has been instrumental in expanding our understanding of the universe, revealing stunning galaxies, nebulae, and distant cosmic phenomena with clarity unmatched by ground-based telescopes.
