Located in the Lepus constellation approximately 130 million light-years from Earth, IC 438 is a large spiral galaxy that can be seen close-up in this Hubble image. If you look to the left side of the image, the galaxy’s core and its tightly-curled inner spiral arms can be observed.
Peer to the right side of this image, and you can see the arms reaching down from above, curving across the dark background, while a bright star inside the arc of the arm, and a couple more next to the galaxy, are also visible. When looking at the big picture, Lepus is bordered on each side by the constellations Canis Major (the Greater Dog) and Orion (the Hunter).
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Lepus is one of the 88 constellations that are officially recognised by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). It is worth clarifying that, whilst the actual constellations themselves only comprise a handful of stars, the area of sky covered by those stars is often referred to using the name of the constellation,” said the ESA.
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