If you could move at the speed of light, you’d still need 260,000 years to travel from one edge of this galaxy to the other.

If you could move at the speed of light, you’d still need 260,000 years to travel from one edge of this galaxy to the other. Along the way, you’d find an off-center ring of baby stars and a hole running through the galaxy’s spiral arms, scars of a cosmic collision. Astronomers believe the galaxy was punched out by a small companion galaxy a few million years back. Like the mythical princess for which its named, the galaxy survived the ordeal to become a star among stars of the night sky. Where am I?

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