The image showcases the intricate structure of NGC 3430, with several nearby galaxies just beyond the frame.
One galaxy is close enough that gravitational interaction is triggering star formation in NGC 3430, visible as bright blue patches near but outside the galaxy's main spiral structure, Phys.org reported.
This spiral galaxy features a bright core from which a pinwheel array of arms radiates outward.
Dark dust lanes and bright star-forming regions accentuate these spiral arms.
Astronomer Edwin Hubble used NGC 3430 to help define his classification of galaxies, which he outlined in a 1926 paper categorizing 400 galaxies by their appearance as either spiral, barred spiral, lenticular, elliptical, or irregular.
This classification system has had a lasting impact, with modern detailed schemes still based on Hubble's work.
NGC 3430 is classified as an SAc galaxy, a spiral without a central bar, featuring open, clearly defined arms.