The NGC 6872 spiral galaxy is 522,000 light-years across from the tip of one outstretched arm to the tip of the other, which makes it about 5 times the size of our home galaxy, the Milky Way.

Interestingly, NGC 6872 had a recent run-in with a nearby lens-shaped galaxy called IC 4970 (which is about a fifth the size of NGC 6872 ).

This picture, taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2), shows a galaxy known as NGC 6872 in the constellation of Pavo (The Peacock). Its unusual shape ...

NGC 6872’s spiral arms are separated by a massive 522,000 light-years, as opposed to about 100,000 light-years for the Milky Way.

This composite of the giant barred spiral galaxy NGC 6872 combines visible light images from the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope with far-ultraviolet (1,528 angstroms) data ...

A new study has led to the classification of NGC 6872 as the largest known spiral galaxy. The galaxy measures some 522,000 light-years across and resides 212 million light-years from earth.

NGC 6872 is centered in the frame with two elongated arms that stretch out toward the upper right and lower left. Close to the white dot at the heart of the galaxy is a cloud of neon purple, which ...

NGC 6872 is centered in the frame with two elongated arms that stretch out toward the upper right and lower left. Close to the white dot at the heart of the galaxy is a cloud of neon purple, which ...

NGC 6872's bar, which links the galaxy's arms and its central regions, is also huge. With a radius of 26,000 light-years, it's about twice as big as the bars of nearby spirals, researchers said.

NGC 6872's bar, which links the galaxy's arms and its central regions, is also huge. With a radius of 26,000 light-years, it's about twice as big as the bars of nearby spirals, researchers said.