The Hubble Space Telescope has captured detailed images of a solitary galaxy so far from any galactic neighbor it's been dubbed the "Lost-In-Space galaxy."
As vast as the universe is, isolated galaxies are rare, as most are found in groups or clusters, and seldom is another galaxy very far away.
However, galaxy NGC 6503 sits alone at the edge of an empty region of space astronomers call the Local Void, an area 150 million light years across that puzzles astronomers with its curious absence of galaxies.
Its isolation led astronomer Stephen James O'Meara to call it the "Lost-In-Space galaxy" in 2007 in his book "Hidden Treasures."
Although sitting all alone in its local region, NGC 6503 is not that far from us, just 18 million light years away in the constellation Draco, the Dragon.
The new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image of the galaxy shows an almost nonexistent central bulge within a massive surrounding halo of gas, astronomers report.
NGC 6503 is one of a number of galaxies being studied as part of the Hubble Legacy ExtraGalactic UV Survey (LEGUS) of their shapes, internal structures and the behavior and properties of their resident stars.
NGC 6503 is less luminous than many galaxies because its central region is an example of what astronomers call a "low ionization nuclear emission region."
The comparatively low levels of emissions are thought to be a sign of a "starved" black hole in the galaxy's center that is being kept just barely active by small amounts of infalling gas, barely sufficient for its voracious appetite, the European Space Agency explains on its Hubble website.
An earlier image of NGC 6503 was released in 2010 as a Hubble Picture of the Week, but the new image has provided astronomers with greater detail to study and a richer range of colors.
In its curving spiral arms, shining red patches of gas can be seen among regions of bright blue, home to newly-forming stars, while the galaxy sports an overall mottled appearance as a result of lanes of dark brown dust.
