The Needle Galaxy
Spiral galaxies have the general shape of a dinner plate: round, thin like a disk, but with a bulge at the dense centre. We often see them almost face-on, so we are familiar with the pinwheel spiral arms, originating at the bright centre and spreading in luxurious curves to the edge.
The Needle Galaxy has such a typical shape, but we are viewing it edge-on, from the side. This certainly provides the opportunity to better understand the shape of a typical spiral galaxy, but from a different perspective.
There seems to be two themes: the intense-white central core with its super-massive black hole, and the thin plane of dark colours extending from this circular core. These dark colours are reddish, suggesting a predominance of Hydrogen and star formation. If you look closely, you will notice a blue colour at the edge of the galaxy, suggesting the predominance of Oxygen, a more complex atom than Hydrogen (verified in other photos). Oxygen is created in aged stars that have exploded, so this suggests to me that the outer parts of the spiral arms are older than the interior. Also puzzling: the edges are curled like the brim of a hat.
This is an aggregate of the best 75 photos from 98 taken (3 minutes each) in April 2025. I photographed the Needle Galaxy from my garden in Strasbourg France.
