Astronomers, using NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, have captured the faint galaxy called UGC 12588, which lies approximately 31 million light-years away in Andromeda’s constellation. The galaxy is known as IRAS 23223+4104 or LEDA 71368, looks like a Cosmic Cinnamon Bun- classified as a spiral galaxy.
Unlike many spiral galaxies, UGC 12588 displays neither a bar of stars across its center nor the classic prominent spiral arm pattern. Instead, to a viewer, its circular, white, and mostly unstructured center makes this galaxy more reminiscent of a cinnamon bun than a megastructure of stars and gas in space.
The huge arms and gas in UGC 12588 are very faint, undistinguished, and tightly wound around its center. The clearest view of the spiral arms comes from the bluer stars sprinkled around the galaxy’s edges that highlight the regions where new star formation is most likely taking place.