Malin 1

One of the largest known spiral galaxies, a 'low surface brightness' galaxy roughly 5x the Milky Way's width.

What it is

Spiral galaxy: A flat disc of stars wound into arms. Ours is one. Every kind of thing there is →

Can you see it?

No. No telescope on Earth will show you this one; it is here to be understood, not seen. It is here because it is worth knowing about — and because leaving it out would make the sky look emptier than it is.

Worth knowing about Malin 1

On that same scale, Malin 1 would be about 1,190 kilometers away -- roughly the length of a small country. Light takes 1.2 billion years to get here from Malin 1, so what you are looking at is Malin 1 as it was 1.2 billion years ago.

What it is made of: A 'low surface brightness' spiral galaxy -- one of the largest spiral galaxies ever found.
What makes it worth knowing: Its disc is so spread out and faint it's almost invisible in ordinary images despite being roughly 5x wider than the Milky Way; revealed only by special deep imaging.

The numbers