Template:POTD/2010-01-24
NGC 5866, known as the Spindle Galaxy, is a lenticular galaxy in the constellation Draco. From Earth, the galaxy can only be seen edge-on, revealing its unusual dust disk. In most lenticular galaxies, cosmic dust is generally found only near the nucleus and generally follows the light profile of the galaxies' bulges. It is also possible that NGC 5866 is a spiral galaxy that was misclassified as a lenticular galaxy because of its edge-on orientation, in which case the dust disk would not be too unusual.Photo credit: NASA, ESA, STScI/AURA