This luminous galaxy is located about 30 million light years away in the constellation Sculptor. It is almost face-on to the Earth. Technically speaking, it is a SABc type galaxy.

Of course, no one knows what SABc type means. Let's explain.

S- Well-defined arms of bright stars and darker dust curving outward from the dense and bright core of the galaxy define the galaxy as spiral.

AB - Many spiral galaxies do not spiral out from a single point, but rather from a long rod-type structure. This particular galaxy is labelled AB because it is thought to be "weakly barred".

c- The lower case 'c' indicates how tightly the spiral arms are wound. 'a' indicates very tightly wound, 'd' indicates very loosely wound.

As the capabilities of our telescopes grow, so do the catalogues of our findings, and this is one of the ways we keep track of it all!

Image Description:

Close-up view of a spiral galaxy. We see this galaxy face-on, showing its circular shape and tightly wound spiral arms. The galaxy glows golden in the centre and darkens to a cool blue towards the edge. Dark, faint filaments of dust and brightly glowing fuchsia pink and orange star formation bubbles mark the face of the galaxy.