Public domain
Hubble's Glittering Frisbee Galaxy
From the collection of NASA Image and Video Library. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
This image from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) shows a section of NGC 1448, a spiral galaxy located about 50 million light-years from Earth in the little-known constellation of Horologium (The Pendulum Clock). We tend to think of spiral galaxies as massive and roughly circular celestial bodies, so this glittering oval does not immediately appear to fit the visual bill. What’s going on? Imagine a spiral galaxy as a circular frisbee spinning gently in space.
NASA Image and Video Library’s own descriptionCredit lineHubble's Glittering Frisbee Galaxy. NASA/GSFC, 2017-12-08. Public domain. ID: GSFC_20171208_Archive_e000117.
