News dated
NASA released an image of NGC 1827 on October 16, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys. The spiral galaxy lies in the constellation Columba, about 37 million light-years away, and appears almost edge-on from our viewpoint. [1]
Blue regions highlight young stars, while dust makes dark streaks across the disk. The bright star to the left of the central bulge is in the foreground: it belongs to the Milky Way, not NGC 1827. Its bright spikes are produced by the telescope’s optics. The news is the release of this image, not the discovery of the galaxy. [1]
The bright side
A public image makes the structure of a nearly edge-on galaxy easier to explore; releasing the picture is not the discovery of the galaxy. [1]
One idea, in simple words
Hubble is a telescope that observes space. On October 16, NASA released its picture of the galaxy NGC 1827. A galaxy is a large collection of stars, gas and dust. This one is about 37 million light-years away. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, not a measure of time. We see the galaxy almost from the side, rather like looking at the edge of a plate. [1]
The picture contains blue areas and dark bands of dust. A very bright star appears near the centre, but it is in front of the galaxy and belongs to our own Milky Way. Objects close together in a photograph are not necessarily close in space. The star’s bright spikes are an effect of the telescope, not arms growing from the star. [1]
A little discovery to keep
What did you discover?
Straight from the source.
- NASA’s Hubble Spies Spiral’s Edge NASA · 16 Oct 2026
Original reporting summaries prepared with AI assistance and accessible sources. Our editorial method.
