
ALT This is a composite image of a spiral galaxy with a giant, unstable star at its outer edge. The spiral galaxy, NGC 4559, is shown at a sharp angle in the image, its flat pink and milky blue face tilts toward our upper left. Sitting near the outer edge of the dense spiral, near the center of the frame, is a small group of pink and blue dots. This group is outlined with an illustrated white square. The smallest pink dot in the square is AT 2016blu, a massive star some 33 times the size of our Sun. Other pink and blue specks within the white square and enlargement are unresolved stars or star clusters, too distant to be related to the movement of material between AT 2016blu and its hidden but influential neighbor.

ALT This is a composite image of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 4725 against a black background filled with stars and distant galaxies. The galaxy appears tilted diagonally, with a bright cream-colored central bar surrounded by a soft blue disk. A single prominent spiral arm wraps around the galaxy, giving it an unusual one-armed appearance. Small magenta points scattered throughout the galaxy represent X-ray sources detected by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. The galaxy is encircled by a faint ring of star formation, while bright foreground stars sparkle throughout the surrounding field of view.


































