This new Hubble image, released on January 30, 2026, is the brightest image ever taken of NGC 7722, a lenticular galaxy located about 187 million light-years away in the Pegasus constellation. Lenticular, meaning “lens-shaped”, is a type of galaxy whose classification sits between the more familiar spiral galaxies and elliptical galaxies. It is also less common than spirals and ellipticals – partly because these galaxies have a somewhat nebulous appearance, making it hard to determine whether it is a spiral, elliptical, or something in between.
Learn more about this observation.
Image credits: ESA/Hubble and NASA, RJ Foley (UC Santa Cruz), Dark Energy Survey/DOE/FNAL/DECAM/CTIO/NoIRLab/NSF/Aura; Acknowledgments: Mehmet Yuksek
