‘Magnificent’ Spiral Galaxy Captured by Very Large Telescope

The European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope was used to capture imagery of Messier 77 (also known as NGC 1068), located 47 million light-years from Earth in the Cetus constellation. It’s an active galaxy whose core is “often bright enough to outshine the whole of the rest of the galaxy,” according the ESO. The luminosity is a result of extreme radiation created by the The accretion disk of the supermassive black hole at the heart of Messier 77.