Image 6-18
Disc Galaxy NGC 5866
This is a unique view of galaxy NGC 5866 which is tilted nearly edge-on to our line-of-sight. Hubble's sharp vision reveals a crisp dust lane dividing the galaxy into two halves. The image shows details the galaxy's structure, including a subtle, reddish bulge surrounding a bright nucleus, a blue disk of stars running parallel to the dust lane, and a transparent outer halo. NGC 5866 is a disk galaxy of type S0. Viewed face on, it would look like a smooth, flat disk with little spiral structure. NGC 5866 is located 44 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Draco.
NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
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