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What it is : voluted Galax urceolata NGC 1566 .

When it was taken : Nov. 3 , 2023 .

NGC 1566, a spiral galaxy, as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope.

NGC 1566, a spiral galaxy, as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Where it is:60 million light - years aside in the constellation Dorado .

Why it ’s so special : NGC 1566 is a turbinate wandflower whose spin arms of star inspired its informal nickname : the " Spanish Dancer . "

The Dancer is one of the most visually striking galaxy we can see , largely because of its preference . While some galaxy are seen side - on from Earth — meaning we only see the thinnest part of the wandflower — NGC 1566 is seen face - on , gain its bulge and spiral munition clearly seeable .

A photo of a spiral galaxy

This image of NGC 1566 from theHubble Space Telescopeshows two voluted implements of war of stars and lane of drab dust swirling from a glowing galactic burden , where the rubble appear to split into fibers . Bright pink regions sparkle along the spiral arms where raw stars are forming .

Around 60 % of beetleweed are volute like NGC 1566 , include ourMilky Way . whorled galaxies are home to stars that are , on average , much younger than those in other galaxies . AccordingtoNASA , whorled extragalactic nebula may acquire into elliptical galaxies , which are less integrated and where stars are older — mayhap aftercolliding or immix with other spiral galaxies .

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An image of a spiral galaxy

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The image of NGC 1566 , take using Hubble ’s Wide Field Camera 3 — one of its two master cameras — can bedownloadedin up to 16 - megapixel quality . There is also an onlinezoomableversion .

NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features part of the Small Magellanic Cloud.

Hubble launched in 1990 and has been orbiting Earth for 33 years . It entered good mood in later November after suffering trouble with one of its three gyro , which help it turn and lock on to new targets . However , it resumed skill operations on Dec. 8,accordingto NASA .

An image of the Milky Way captured by the MeerKAT radio telescope. At the center of the MeerKAT image the region surrounding the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole blazes bright. Huge vertical filamentary structures echo those captured on a smaller scale by Webb in Sagittarius C’s blue-green hydrogen cloud.

a photo of a nebula that looks like two overlapping circles

an image of the Eagle Nebula

A two-paneled image. On the left, a deep sky image showing many stars. On the right, a zoomed-in version showing a cluster of stars.

A photograph taken from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which shows wave-like patterns inside a Mars crater.

An illustration of an asteroid passing by Earth

a closeup of a meteorite in the snow

An illustration of a black hole with light erupting from it

Tunnel view of Yosemite National Park.

A scuba diver descends down a deep ocean reef wall into the abyss.

Remains of the Heroon, a small temple built for the burial cluster of Philip II at the Museum of the Royal Tombs inside the Great Tumulus of Aigai (Aegae)

An artist�s illustration of a satellite crashing back to Earth.

Reconstruction of an early Cretaceous landscape in what is now southern Australia.

A photo of the Large Hadron Collider�s ALICE detector.