Hubble Reveals NGC 4698: Spiral Galaxy Whose Core Spins at Right Angles

A new Hubble Space Telescope image released September 18, 2026, highlights an unusual feature in the spiral galaxy NGC 4698, 55 million light-years away in the Virgo Cluster. The image, labeled potm2609a and selected as Hubble’s “Picture of the Month” for September 2026, shows the galaxy’s core spinning at a 90-degree angle relative to its outer spiral arms. NASA and ESA say only a small number of spiral galaxies in the observable universe are confirmed to host a “polar nuclear disk,” a rare configuration where the inner region rotates in a perpendicular plane. The study also suggests the orthogonal structure may be linked to an actively growing central black hole.