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A spiral from the side

Image: ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Sun
Image: ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Sun

This newly released Hubble image shows NGC 4423, a galaxy located some 55 million light-years away in the Virgo constellation. It bears the appearance of a nebulous blob, but it’s actually a spiral galaxy, similar to Andromeda or our Milky Way. It’s just that we’re seeing it from a side perspective. And in fact, you can make out the denser central bulge and its more sparsely populated surrounding disc, which includes the spiral arms.