You could be forgiven for thinking that we see all galaxies as beautiful spiral structures, but in reality the Universe is not so accommodating.
This thin red strip is a galaxy 44 million lightyears away that appears side-on when viewed from Earth, hiding its intricate form.
It was captured by the Spitzer Space Telescope, which views the Universe in infrared to give astronomers a unique perspective on the workings of the cosmos.
For example, the red colour in this image is starlight absorbed by cosmic dust, then reemitted and detected by Spitzer in infrared.
