This is the spiral galaxy know as NGC 5584. The galaxy is over 50,000 light-years across and some 72 million light-years away in the constellation of Virgo. The galaxy, with its bright young stars and dark dust lanes, is really a beautiful sight. However, there was also a recent type Ia supernova (the explosion of a white dwarf star) in the galaxy, useful tools in determining distances in the cosmos. Data gathered from the supernova, as well as 7 other galaxies, is being used to determine Hubble's Constant - the expansion rate of the universe. The results of this effort seem to support the theory that dark energy, a mysterious force that we cannot detect, is accelerating the expansion of the universe.
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