NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory captured this stunning image of spiral galaxy NGC 6872, better known as the peacock galaxy located 212 million light-years from Earth in the Pavo constellation.
This galaxy spans 522,000 light-years across, making it more than five times the size of the Milky Way galaxy. One thing you may not know is that in 2013, astronomers from the United States, Chile, and Brazil found it to be the largest-known spiral galaxy, based on archival data from NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer. This record was eventually surpassed by Markarian 348, also known as NGC 262, a spiral galaxy that measures 1.3 million light-years in diameter.
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On behalf of the STS-93 crew, we are tremendously proud of the Chandra X-ray Observatory and its brilliant team that built and launched this astronomical treasure. Chandra’s discoveries have continually astounded and impressed us over the past 25 years,” said
Eileen Collins, commander of the space shuttle Columbia mission that launched Chandra into space in 1999.
