The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a new image of NGC 4698, a spiral galaxy about 55 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo and one of more than one thousand galaxies in the Virgo Cluster, ESA reported on 18 September 2026. The galaxy has spiral arms curling through a thin disc of stars, gas and dust, with a central bulge of older, cooler stars orbiting a supermassive black hole that shows signs of actively growing.

What sets NGC 4698 apart is its geometry. It is one of only a few known spiral galaxies whose bulge extends out from the disc at a right angle, a faint elongation visible in the image as a glow above and below the dusty disc. The stars and gas nearest the centre also rotate perpendicular to the rest of the disc.

Astronomers suggest the cause likely lies outside the galaxy: gas drawn in from an external source could have formed a central disc of gas and stars at an angle to the main disc. Some observations point to a past minor galactic merger, indicated by a short tail of hydrogen streaming from one side. The image data come from an observing programme (#18103; PI: Thilker) focused on Virgo Cluster galaxies.