NGC 5907 (Splinter Galaxy) · Seestar S30 Pro · 2026-04-28
NGC 5907, known as the Splinter Galaxy or Knife Edge Galaxy, is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Draco seen almost perfectly edge-on, discovered by William Herschel in 1788.
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NGC 5907, known as the Splinter Galaxy or Knife Edge Galaxy, is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Draco seen almost perfectly edge-on, discovered by William Herschel in 1788. It lies about 46.5 million light-years away, with an angular size of roughly 12.7 by 1.4 arcminutes corresponding to a true diameter of around 173,000 light-years, giving it its extremely thin, needle-like profile. Deep imaging has revealed faint, looping stellar streams extending more than 150,000 light-years beyond the visible disk, the tidal remnant of a smaller dwarf galaxy torn apart and absorbed by NGC 5907 roughly four billion years ago. While the bright central disk is a straightforward broadband target, capturing the much fainter surrounding tidal streams requires considerably longer integration time and a dark sky.
