NASA has released a snapshot of NGC 6872, the largest known spiral galaxy in the universe.. According to Space. com, the object spans as much as 522,000 light-years.

NGC 6872 is a barred spiral galaxy, but looks different from our own Milky Way. The galaxy has two long stellar "

[see_also ids\u003d"

What makes NGC 6872 truly impressive is its size - it is the largest spiral galaxy known to date.. It is five times larger than the Milky Way.

It was possible to obtain its image by combining images from three telescopes: the Very Large Telescope of the European Southern Observatory, the Spitzer telescope and GALEX. Thanks to this, the galaxy can be seen in the visible, ultraviolet and infrared spectra..

NGC 6872 is 212 million light-years from Earth. Scientists believe that its elongated shape is due to the interaction with the neighboring disk galaxy IC4970, which is only one-fifth the mass of the giant..

Typically, such galactic interactions lead to a merger. But in this particular case, they seem to create a new galaxy..

Previously, astronomers managed to find a galaxy that does not emit light.