NASA's Hubble telescope spots mysterious dwarf spiral galaxy: See this mesmerising picture

NASA today shared a mesmerising picture of a dwarf spiral galaxy about 11 million light-years away in the Sculptor Group. Captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, the galaxy is nicknamed the Needle's Eye as one end of it features a strange void of stars, which is not visible in this latest Hubble image.

The image shows a section of the spiral galaxy, which is also known as NGC 247 and Caldwell 62. It zooms into the very edge of the galaxy, on the opposite side of the void. The bright red indicates areas of high-density gas and dust, and robust star formation rather close to the edge of the galaxy.

One particularly mysterious feature of this galaxy is the hole or void on its one side where there is a shortage of gas, meaning there isn't much material from which new stars can form. The reason behind this strange feature's formation is still unknown, but studies hint toward past gravitational interactions with another galaxy.

The galaxy also hosts an object known as an ultraluminous X-ray source. By studying Caldwell 62 in visible and infrared light, astronomers have found signs that the X-rays are coming from a disk around an intermediate-mass black hole.

Now presenting, our first new #GalaxiesGalore image!NGC 247 is a dwarf spiral galaxy about 11 million light-years away. This Hubble view zooms into the very edge of the galaxy: https://t.co/dbdCiit6HGStay tuned for more galactic images in the weeks to come! pic.twitter.com/CMiebBfjsv

— Hubble (@NASAHubble) May 10, 2022