When spiral galaxies are viewed from this angle, it is very difficult to fully understand their properties and how they are arranged.

[5] A population of older stars has been detected off the center of the disk, as well as a stream-like structure, that could indicate a galaxy merger took place in the recent past.

[7] The galaxy is close enough that its stars can be resolved with large telescopes, with the brightest ones having an apparent magnitude of 21.

The younger and hotter of the stars lie within HII regions, the largest of which have apparent diameters of at least 2 arcseconds.

[8] These pockets of extremely hot newborn stars are visible across the galaxy's length as bursts of pale blue light, partially blocked out by weaving lanes of darker gas and dust.