NASA / ESA’s Hubble Space Telescope captured a brilliant edge-on view of spiral galaxy NGC 3432, located 45 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Leo Minor. You may not be able to make it out in this image, but this galaxy is interacting with UGC 5983, a nearby dwarf galaxy. This can be seen in the tidal filaments and intense star formation.
We can see NGC 3432 oriented directly edge-on to us from our vantage point here on Earth, with its spiral arms and bright core hidden from view. Instead, a thin strip of its very outer reaches are visible, while dark bands of cosmic dust, patches of varying brightness and pink regions of star formation help mask its true shape.
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Because observatories such as the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have seen spiral galaxies at every kind of orientation, astronomers can tell when we happen to have caught one from the side,” said the NASA Hubble Mission Team.
