A Rare One-Armed Spiral: NGC 4725 in Coma Berenices | NASA Chandra

A Rare One-Armed Spiral: NGC 4725 in Coma Berenices | NASA Chandra

"The universe's most interesting galaxies are the ones that break the rules." NGC 4725 is a "one-armed" barred spiral galaxy surrounded by a prominent star-forming ring. Chandra's X-ray data (magenta) pinpoints several bright X-ray sources, likely caused by growing black holes, embedded within the sweeping optical disk (soft blue and white) captured with the Mount Lemmon Observatory. Galaxies with unusual single arms can help us study how the gravity from a passing galaxy can trigger bursts of star formation.

Distance from Earth: ~41 million light-years

Image Credits: 

X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO 

Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI/NAOJ/R. Gendler

Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare
Release Date: Aug. 25, 2026

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