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Hubble Spots Lens-Shaped Galaxy - NASA
www.nasa.gov
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image of NGC 7722, a lenticular galaxy located about 187 million light-years away, features concentric rings of dust and gas that appear to swirl around its bright nucleus. ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. J. Foley (UC Santa Cruz), Dark Energy Survey/DOE/FNAL/DECam/CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA; Acknowledgment: Mehmet Yüksek
This new picture from the Hubble Space Telescope shows a galaxy called NGC 7722 in amazing detail. The image was released on January 30, 2026. The galaxy is about 187 million light-years away from Earth. It is located in the constellation named Pegasus.
NGC 7722 is a special kind of galaxy known as a lenticular galaxy. The word "lenticular" comes from the Latin word for "lens-shaped." This galaxy looks like a bright, glowing lens floating in space.
Galaxies come in different shapes. The two most common types are spiral galaxies and elliptical galaxies. Lenticular galaxies are interesting because they are in-between these two main types.
Like spiral galaxies, lenticular galaxies have a bright, central bulge and a flat disk of stars around it. But unlike spiral galaxies, they usually do not have the long, curved arms made of gas, dust, and bright young stars. At the same time, lenticular galaxies look smooth and rounded like elliptical galaxies. However, they are much flatter, like a disk.
Because of this mixed appearance, lenticular galaxies are less common than spirals or ellipticals. Their look can sometimes make them hard to classify. Astronomers need very clear pictures, like the ones from Hubble, to decide if a galaxy is a true lenticular type.