Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. J. Koss, A. J. Barth

IC 486 lies in the constellation Gemini (the Twins), around 380 million light-years from Earth. Classified as a barred spiral galaxy, it features a bright central bar-shaped structure from which its spiral arms unfurl, wrapping around the core in a smooth, almost ring-like pattern. This wide-field view also features a vibrant scene of distant background galaxies and foreground stars. Some stars appear with characteristic diffraction spikes. However, much of the field is dominated by the more diffuse, orange-red smudges of far more distant galaxies. [Image Description: The face-on view of the barred spiral galaxy IC 486 dominates the right side of this image. The wide-field view is dominated against a black background of space by many distant galaxies that appear as orange-red dots throughout the scene. A few foreground stars are also visible.] Links IC 486 (close-up view) Pan video: IC 486 Pan video: IC 486 (wide-field view)

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://esahubble.org/images/potm2603b/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Baltimore, MD, United States

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License