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NGC 1827: Hubble captures an edge-on spiral galaxy 37 million light-years away in Columba

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NGC 1827, an edge-on intermediate spiral galaxy, is the subject of a new NASA Hubble Space Telescope image released on 16 October 2026. The galaxy lies about 37 million light-years away in the constellation Columba, the Dove, and its rusty-brown dust lanes cut along its length as seen from Earth. Columba is a small constellation in the southern sky.

NGC 1827: Edge-on view of the galaxy's dusty disc taken by Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys
Edge-on view of the galaxy's dusty disc taken by Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys Photo: NASA, ESA, Michael Jones (Caltech); processing: Gladys Kober (public domain).

What Hubble shows in NGC 1827

The image was taken with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys. It shows bright blue regions along the galaxy’s disc dotted with dark dust lanes, where new stars are likely forming, NASA said. A bright foreground star appears just left of the galaxy’s central bulge, but it actually sits between us and the galaxy. Because the disc is seen almost side-on, the dust lanes look like a dark stripe across the middle. Its four spikes come from light bending around the supports that hold Hubble’s secondary mirror. Distant galaxies dot the black background, and other foreground stars can be picked out by their spikes. The image was credited to NASA, ESA and Michael Jones of Caltech, with processing by Gladys Kober.

Key Facts

  • Object: NGC 1827, edge-on intermediate spiral galaxy
  • Distance: about 37 million light-years
  • Constellation: Columba (the Dove)
  • Survey: 260 satellite galaxies around 22 hosts
  • Observed so far: 111; orbits still needed: 149

A survey of 260 satellite galaxies

Hubble captured NGC 1827 as part of a survey of 260 satellite galaxies around 22 Milky Way-like host galaxies within about 32 million light-years of Earth. Hubble has observed 111 of these satellites so far, and the remaining ones will need another 149 Hubble orbits, one orbit for each galaxy, according to NASA. Small satellite galaxies orbit larger ones much as the Magellanic Clouds orbit our own Milky Way. Studying many of them around similar hosts gives astronomers a large sample, rather than relying on our own galaxy’s neighbours alone. Friends of NASA and several science sites carried the same figures.

Why small galaxies test cosmology

Low-mass galaxies like those in the programme give scientists a way to test cosmological models on small scales, where the models struggle to match what telescopes actually see, NASA said. The data will help researchers describe the properties of low-mass galaxies in Milky Way-like systems and refine their models of how the universe built its structures. Astronomers call such low-mass companions satellite galaxies. Hubble, launched in 1990, is a joint project of NASA and ESA and remains one of the most productive telescopes in history. Images like this one are released as part of regular Hubble picture updates, and full-resolution versions are free to download from NASA’s website. The release came from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Why It Matters: Studying small galaxies helps scientists test their models of how galaxies like our Milky Way formed.

Also on TrendDesh: Treble Clef in space: NASA's Chandra finds a black hole outburst and cluster crash behind the shape · NASA Moon battery: solid-state SPEARS cells built to survive the lunar South Pole cold

Source: NASA Science · Friends of NASA

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