I write about spiral galaxies here, and when I do it’s usually because they’re unusual. They’re really big, or small, or violent, or forming lots of stars.

So how about one that’s entirely normal? But don’t let that fool you: it’s still gorgeous. Take a gander at NGC 2841, a perfectly normal spiral galaxy as seen by Hubble:

Breathtaking, isn’t it? Click it to galactinate, or grab the super-dooper 3400 x 3000 pixel high-res version.

NGC 2841 is about 45 million light years way. That kinda sorta close, but not too far, keeping with our theme of averageness. It’s not particularly extraordinary in any way — assuming that any time you see an object tens of thousands of light years across and possessing a hundred billion stars, you’re seeing something ordinary. This type of galaxy is called flocculent: with lots of short arms instead of a two or three long, grand, majestic ones.

It’s forming stars, but not many. Those blue patches are where stars are being born, and they seem small, well-behaved, and scattered evenly across the galaxy’s disk. Everything about this galaxy is, well, polite. It doesn’t ...