1 min read

Mysteries of the Needle’s Eye, a Dwarf Spiral Galaxy

A portion of the galaxy fills the upper right half of the image, blue and red clusters of stars and gas dot its edge, a bright foreground star sits to the lower left of the galaxy
NASA, ESA, and H. Feng (Tsinghua University); Image processing: G. Kober (NASA Goddard/Catholic University of America)

This Hubble Space Telescope image shows a section of the spiral galaxy nicknamed the Needle’s Eye – an appropriately diminutive name for a dwarf spiral galaxy. The Needle’s Eye, also known as NGC 247 and Caldwell 62, is located about 11 million light-years away in the Sculptor Group – the closest group of galaxies to our own (the Local Group). The galaxy was given its nickname because one end of it features a strange void of stars (not seen in this Hubble close-up).