A galaxy on a knife’s edge

Another Hubble Space Telescope gem was captured recently when it photographed a galaxy called NGC 5907, also known as the Knife Edge Galaxy. This picture shows the structure – located roughly 500 million light years away – stretched across Hubble’s keen field of view.

NGC 5907 is a spiral galaxy that clearly exhibits individual spiral arms, comprised of dust tracks that dampen the starlight to create black streaks. Because of NGC 5907’s orientation in relation to Earth, Hubble is not able to get a bird’s-eye view of the galaxy’s core, but can still provide a unique look at the spiral arms from an alternative perspective.