This image of PGC 10922, an example of a lenticular galaxy — a galaxy type that lies on the border between ellipticals & spirals. Seen face-on, this image shows the disc & tightly-wound spiral structures of dark dust encircling the bright centre of the galaxy. There is also a remarkable outer halo of faint wide arcs or shells extending outwards. These are likely to have been formed by a gravitational encounter or even a merger with another galaxy. Dark Dust, Science Astronomy, Lenticular Galaxy, Shells Extended, Outer Halo, Lenticular Galaxies, Galaxies Pgc, Tightly Wounded Spirals, Galaxy Pgc
NGC 474 is an elliptical galaxy in the constellation Pisces. This large galaxy is known to possess tidal tails, although their origins remain unknown. These tidal tails may be related to debris left over from absorbing numerous small galaxies in the past billion years. Or the shells may be like ripples in a pond, where the ongoing collision with the spiral galaxy just above NGC 474 is causing density waves to ripple though it.
Central area of the Milky Way galaxy, released by astronomers at the European Southern Observatory's Paranal Observatory in Chile. The photo shows 84 million stars in an image measuring 108,500×81,500, which contains nearly 9 billion pixels, and is actually a composite of thousands of individual photographs shot with the observatory's VISTA survey telescope.
The Whirlpool galaxy, M51, has been one of the most photogenic galaxies in amateur and professional astronomy. Easily photographed and viewed by smaller telescopes, this celestial beauty is studied extensively in a range of wavelengths by large ground- and space-based observatories.