Barred spiral galaxy UGC 678 is at the center of this image taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The stunning galaxy is about 260 million light-years from Earth and nearly face-to-face in the constellation Pisces, allowing its lazily spinning spiral arms to travel through this image. In the foreground, a smaller galaxy seen from the side appears to bisect the top of UGC 678.

Barred spiral galaxies have a bar-like star structure extending from opposite edges of the galaxy’s central bulge. In spiral galaxies, jumpers form when the orbits of stars near the heart of the galaxy become unstable and elongate. As their orbits get longer, they form a line.

The line grows larger as their gravity pulls more and more nearby stars towards them. The UGC 678 band is dim. It can be seen as a diagonal group of stars extending from the lower left (7 o’clock position) to the upper right (1 o’clock position) of the galactic core.