Hubble Spies Edge-on Beauty Visible in the constellation of
Andromeda, NGC 891 is located approximately 30 million light-
years away from Earth. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope
turned its powerful wide field Advanced Camera for Surveys
towards this spiral galaxy and took this close-up of its
northern half. The galaxy's central bulge is just out of the
image on the bottom left. The galaxy, spanning some 100,000
light-years, is seen exactly edge-on, and reveals its thick
plane of dust and interstellar gas. While initially thought to
look like our own Milky Way if seen from the side, more detailed
surveys revealed the existence of filaments of dust and gas
escaping the plane of the galaxy into the halo over hundreds of
light-years. They can be clearly seen here against the bright
background of the galaxy halo, expanding into space from the
disk of the galaxy. Astronomers believe these filaments to be
the result of the ejection of material due to supernovae or
intense stellar formation activity. By lighting up