Hubble spots a 'chaotic secret' hiding inside the spiral galaxy NGC 4698
NASA has released a new Hubble image of the spiral galaxy NGC 4698, whose delicate arms shy away from its glowing centre and hover in a ring-like structure around the disc's edge.
NASA has released a new image from the Hubble Space Telescope of the spiral galaxy NGC 4698, revealing what the agency calls a “chaotic secret” hidden inside its seemingly serene disc.
The image, released on 18 September 2026 and published by NASA on 25 September, shows a spiral galaxy much like our own Milky Way, with arms curling within a thin disc of stars, gas and dust. The arms are marked by opaque clumps of brown dust and dotted with small collections of bright blue stars.
But unlike many other spiral galaxies, NGC 4698’s delicate arms are prominent only in the outer reaches of the disc. Where spiral arms usually wind down to the very centre of a galaxy, here they shy away from the glowing core, instead hovering in a ring-like structure around the perimeter.
Text credit for the release goes to ESA/Hubble, with image credit to ESA/Hubble and NASA, D. Thilker and the MAUVE-HST Team. NASA points readers to its science portal for more on the unusual galaxy.
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