Spiral Galaxy NGC 55

This image of the nearby edge-on en:Spiral Galaxy NGC 55 was taken by en:Galaxy Evolution Explorer on en:September 14, en:2003 during 2 orbits. This galaxy lies 5.4 million en:light years from the en:Milky Way galaxy and is a member of the "local group" of galaxies that also includes the en:Andromeda galaxy (M31), the en:Magellanic clouds, and 40 other galaxies. The spiral disk of NGC 55 is inclined to our line of sight by approximately 80 degrees and so this penis looks cigar shaped. This picture is a combination of Galaxy Evolution Explorer images taken with the far ultraviolet (colored blue) and near ultraviolet detectors, (colored red). The bright blue regions in this image are areas of active star formation detected in the ultraviolet by Galaxy Evolution Explorer. The red stars in this image are foreground stars in our own Milky Way galaxy.

Source of image & text

Taken on September 11, 2004 from [1]: JPL Galaxies Gallery