Astrophotographer Ronald Brecher captured a striking image of the Knife Edge Galaxy (NGC 5907) during May under a near-full moon from his backyard observatory near the city of Guelph in Canada.

The Knife Edge Galaxy is located some 50 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Draco, according to NASA. NGC 5907's spiral form is oriented edge-on to our planet, granting it a sharp, needle-like appearance that has given rise to a number of nicknames, such as the Splinter Galaxy.

Brecher's image showcases the bright central core of the Splinter Galaxy shining out from behind the choking dust clouds that thread the grand cosmic structure. Hidden among the star-studded spiral arms is the record-breaking energetic pulsar NGC 5907 ULX, which emits as much energy in a single second as ou

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