Hubble telescope spots a bright spiral galaxy with a violent past (photo)

A broad spiral galaxy seen directly face-on. It has two bright spiral arms that extend from a bar, which shines from the very centre. Additional fainter arms branch off from these, studded with bright blue patches of star formation. Small, distant galaxies are dotted around it, on a dark background.

A new image from the Hubble Space Telescope captures a stunning head-on view of a distant galaxy with tightly wound tightly wound spiral arms.

The spiral galaxy, known as UGC 12295, lies approximately 192 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Pisces. While the galaxy appears to "bask leisurely" in space, the Hubble observations show it recently hosted a stellar explosion, also known as a supernova, according to a statement from the European Space Agency (ESA).