#knife edge galaxy

This galaxy, known as NGC 5907, seems to be an elongated line of stars and dark dust. But, the galaxy is actually categorized as a spiral galaxy just like our own Milky Way. In this new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, we don’t see the beautiful spiral arms because we are viewing it edge-on, like looking at the rim of a plate. It is for this reason that NGC 5907 is also known as the Knife Edge galaxy. It is about 50 million light-years from Earth and can be found in the northern constellation of Draco. Although not visible in this image, ghostly streams of stars on big arching loops extend into space, circling around the galaxy. It is believed that those are remnants of a small dwarf galaxy that was torn apart by the Knife Edge galaxy and merged with it over 4 billion years ago.

Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. de Jong; Acknowledgment: Judy Schmidt (Geckzilla)