The Twisted Disk of NGC 4753
What do you think this is? Here's a clue: it's bigger than a bread box. Much bigger . The answer is that pictured NGC 4753 is a twisted disk galaxy , where unusual dark dust filaments provide clues about its history. No one is sure what happened, but a leading model holds that a relatively normal disk galaxy gravitationally ripped apart a dusty satellite galaxy while its precession distorted the plane of the accreted debris as it rotated. The cosmic collision is hypothesized to have started about a billion years ago. NGC 4753 is seen from the side, and possibly would look like a normal spiral galaxy from the top. The bright orange halo is composed of many older stars that might trace dark matter . The featured Hubble image was recently reprocessed to highlight ultraviolet and red-light emissions. APOD Year in Review: NASA Night Sky Network Presentation for 2024