![](\"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/A_rival_to_the_Milky_Way_card_full.jpg\")
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The Universe is simply so vast that it can be difficult to maintain a sense of scale. Many galaxies we see through telescopes such as the\u00a0NASA\/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, the source of this beautiful\u00a0Picture of the Week, look relatively similar: spiralling arms, a glowing\u00a0centre, and a mixture of bright specks of\u00a0star formation\u00a0and dark ripples of\u00a0cosmic dust\u00a0weaving throughout.<\/p>\n
This galaxy, a\u00a0spiral galaxy\u00a0named NGC 772, is no exception. It actually has much in common with our home galaxy, the\u00a0Milky Way. Each boasts a few\u00a0satellite galaxies, small galaxies that closely orbit and are gravitationally bound to their parent galaxies. One of NGC 772\u2019s spiral arms has been distorted and disrupted by one of these satellites (NGC 770 \u2014 not visible in the image here), leaving it elongated and asymmetrical.<\/p>\n
However, the two are also different in a few key ways. For one, NGC 772 is both a peculiar and an unbarred spiral galaxy; respectively, this means that it is somewhat odd in size, shape, or composition, and that it lacks a central feature known as a bar, which we see in many galaxies throughout the cosmos \u2014 including the Milky Way. These bars are built of gas and stars, and are thought to funnel and transport material through the galactic core, possibly fueling and igniting various processes such as star formation.<\/p>\n