Some Hubble images barely need an introduction. The latest one shows the barred spiral galaxy IC 486 glowing through the dark, with bright, branching arms stretching out from its centre.

A new image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows IC 486 in detail. The galaxy is about 380 million light-years from Earth, just to the left of the constellation Gemini.

IC 486 is a barred spiral galaxy. That means it is a spiral galaxy, or a galaxy with a spiralling disk with arms extending from its centre, and it also has a central bar-shaped structure made up of stars. According to the source text, those bars appear in about two thirds of all spiral galaxies that astronomers have observed.

The image highlights the galaxy’s centre with a bright white glow. The source text identifies that region as IC 486’s active galactic nucleus, or AGN, which is the centre of the galaxy and an active supermassive black hole.

The source text describes the galaxy’s appearance as a “soft, gossamer glow” and says the image “seems straight out of science fiction,” while also stressing that it is “a real image of a real, massive galaxy far out in the cosmos.”

The piece also notes that Hubble images “never fail to amaze” and presents the image of IC 486 as the latest in space news updates that include rocket launches and skywatching events.

The article was written by Chelsea Gohd, who served as a senior writer for Space.com from 2018 to 2022 before returning in 2026. The source text says she covered climate change, planetary science and human spaceflight in articles and videos, and that she has an M.S. in Biology. It also says she has written and worked for NASA JPL, the American Museum of Natural History, Scientific American, Discover Magazine Blog, Astronomy Magazine and Live Science.

At the centre of IC 486, the image shows what the source text calls “the center of the galaxy and an active supermassive black hole.”