Spiral Galaxy Pair NGC 4302 and NGC 4298

Two colorful spiral galaxies share Hubble’s field of view in this striking double portrait. Both are approximately 55 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices. The edge-on member of this duo is named NGC 4302. Dust in its disk is silhouetted against rich lanes of stars. Absorption by dust makes the galaxy appear darker and redder than its companion. A large blue patch toward the bottom of the galaxy appears to be a giant region of recent star formation. The second member of the pair is galaxy NGC 4298. In NGC 4298, the telltale, pinwheel-like spiral structure is visible, but it’s not as prominent as in other spiral galaxies. This image was released in April 2017 to mark Hubble’s 27th year in orbit.