This recent image from Hubble raises the question, is this a spiral or an elliptical galaxy? And that it is a very good question, as the answer is neither! Instead, it is a lenticular galaxy - a family which has features of both spirals and ellipticals.
The galaxy in question is NGC 6861. Discovered by James Dunlop in 1826, it is the second brightest member of a group of over a dozen galaxies known as the Telescopium Group. It is a distance of 131 million light years away from Earth.
Current understanding is vague on this third kind of galaxy. Scientists are yet to discover whether this is simply a spiral galaxy that has lost its arms or a result of the merging of a spiral and elliptical galaxy.
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The galaxy in question is NGC 6861. Discovered by James Dunlop in 1826, it is the second brightest member of a group of over a dozen galaxies known as the Telescopium Group. It is a distance of 131 million light years away from Earth.
Current understanding is vague on this third kind of galaxy. Scientists are yet to discover whether this is simply a spiral galaxy that has lost its arms or a result of the merging of a spiral and elliptical galaxy.
OTHER NEWS
Atlas V successfully launches MUOS-3 satellite
Dawn takes new images of Ceres
ESA releases image of Venus' south pole vortex
Asteroid to zip past Earth later this month