Gallery: Space Photos of the Week: A Wonky Spiral Galaxy Has an Identity Crisis

  • Image may contain Universe Space Astronomy Nebula Outer Space Outdoors Nature Night and Milky Way
    <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/sahara-desert-from-the-space-stations-earthkam">ESA/NASA</a>
    01

    SPoW-Dec9-09.jpg

    NGC 4388 is one of 1300 galaxies that make up the Virgo constellation, but it’s a little confused. It has the classic, smooth shape of an elliptical galaxy but has symmetrical spiral arms emerging from the core like a spiral galaxy. While it's technically a spiral galaxy, the strange shape was most likely caused by bumping into other nearby galaxies.
  • Image may contain Animal Water Sea Life Sea Outdoors Reef Nature Ocean Art Painting and Coral Reef
    <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/sahara-desert-from-the-space-stations-earthkam">Sally Ride EarthKAM</a>
    02

    SPoW-Dec9-08.jpg

    Middle school students programmed an International Space Station camera to take this photo of the Sahara desert.
  • Image may contain Advertisement Collage and Poster
    <a href="https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/resources/7564/?category=images">NASA</a>
    03

    SPoW-Dec9-04.jpg

    Different filters show varying altitudes of cloud coverage in Saturn’s northern hemisphere.
  • Image may contain Art Painting Rock and Rust
    <a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA21217">NASA</a>
    04

    SPoW-Dec9-06.jpg

    This image of Valles Marineris, a system of canyons on Mars, shows the colorful bedrock beneath.
  • Image may contain Light and Flare
    <a href="http://m.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2016/12/Cool_sunrise">Thomas Pesquet</a>
    05

    SPoW-Dec9-01.jpg

    Astronaut Thomas Pesquet took this photo of flying towards the sunrise from the International Space Station.
  • In this view of the jet stream around Saturns north pole each side of the hexagon is about as wide as Earth.
    <a href="https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/resources/7565/?category=images">NASA</a>
    06

    SPoW-Dec9-03.jpg

    In this view of the jet stream around Saturn’s north pole, each side of the hexagon is about as wide as Earth.
  • Image may contain Light Fire Lighting Flame Pattern Texture and Purple
    <a href="http://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1642a/">ESO</a>
    07

    SPoW-Dec9-02.jpg

    In this map, invisible dark matter is shown in pink, covering an area 420 times the size of the full moon.
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