By ESA/Hubble
January 16, 2022
Spiral galaxy NGC 3318 imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: ESA/Hubble & & NASA, ESO, R. J. Foley, Acknowledgement: R. Colombari
The spiral arms of the galaxy NGC 3318 are slackly curtained across this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. As befits a galaxy in a nautically motivated constellation, the outer edges of NGC 3318 practically resemble a ships sails billowing in a mild breeze.
Despite its placid appearance, NGC 3318 has actually played host to a marvelously violent astronomical phenomenon, a titanic supernova first spotted by an amateur astronomer in 2000. Thanks to NGC 3318s range from Earth, the initial supernova must have happened in or around 1885. Coincidentally, this was the year in which the only supernova ever to be identified in our neighboring galaxy Andromeda was experienced by 19th-century astronomers.