The European Southern Observatory’s unimaginatively-named but incredibly powerful Very Large Telescope (VLT) located on a remote plateau high in the mountains of Chile’s Atacama Desert has captured a detailed view of NGC 1055, a spiral galaxy a little larger than our own located 55 million light-years away. On galactic scales this is relatively close by, and our edge-on perspective allows astronomers to determine the three-dimensional structure of this island of stars.

Spiral galaxies across the Universe can be found at all angles in relation to our viewpoint here on Earth. Some we see “face on,” which dramatically shows a spiral galaxy’s long, arcing arms and bright center but make it difficult to get a sense of true shape or variations in density. With NGC 1055 we see it “on edge,” without which it likely wouldn’t be known that it’s being tugged by one of its galactic neighbors.

Read the full story from ESO here: A Galaxy on the Edge