curling clockwise as they extend from the nucleus. The arms contain dark dust lanes that astronomers associate with the dense clouds of gas from which stars are born. The galaxyΓÇÖs nucleus is rather unusual: it has at least three bright spots, none of which lies at its exact center.
Odd features in the galaxyΓÇÖs outer portion, such as the bright bow and arrow on the right and the patchy blobs toward the top, suggest that NGC 3310 is not an isolated galaxy but two galaxies that have recently merged into one.
