The Spanish Dancer

Located about 40 million light-years away in the constellation Dorado, NGC 1566 is also known as the "Spanish Dancer Galaxy." This poetic nickname perfectly illustrates the grace of its spiral arms, whose elegant curves evoke the fluid movements of a captivating dance.

Classified among the grand-design spirals, NGC 1566 stands out with two luminous arms, dotted with sparkling blue star clusters and dark trails of cosmic dust. Its particularly bright and active core makes it one of the closest and most brilliant Seyfert galaxies, likely harboring a supermassive black hole that disrupts the very fabric of the surrounding galaxy.

NGC 1566 has also been the scene of spectacular phenomena, such as the observation of two recent supernovae. The first, discovered in 2010, was a type Iax supernova, followed in 2021 by a type Ia supernova, particularly bright with a magnitude of 12.