Face to face with a galaxy | Space photo of the day for May 9, 2025

You are face-to-face with spiral galaxy NGC 3596, courtesy of an image captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. British astronomer William Herschel was the first person to see and document the galaxy in 1784.

What is it?

NGC 3596 is a typical spiral galaxy, other than its straight-on orientation when viewed from Earth.

The bright arms of NGC 3596 are comprised of stars, gas and dust. It is that area where the most stars are being formed, as seen by the bright pink regions and young blue stars tracing the galaxy’s arms.

Where is it?

NGC 3596 is situated 90 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Leo, the Lion.

Why is it amazing?

Scientists still don’t know why galaxies like this one take on this spiral shape, in part because of the sheer diversity of other examples. “Some have clear spiral arms, while others have patchy, feathery arms. Some have prominent bars across their centers, while others have compact, circular nuclei. Some have close neighbors, while others are isolated,” NASA officials wrote in a description of NGC 3596.

Today, researchers believe that spiral arms represent a pattern of high-density and low-density areas. Stars, gas, and dust bunch up as they enter a galaxy’s spiral arm, before emerging and continuing their journey through the galaxy.

Want to know more?

You can read more about spiral galaxies and learn how they get their “feathers.” You can also read about the formation of the arms of our own galaxy, the Milky Way.