Learn a new word this weekend! “Flocculent” 😉
This means ‘resembling tufts of wool’. And this image of the spiral galaxy NGC 3521 from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is not out of focus, instead, the galaxy itself has a soft, woolly appearance as it a member of a class of galaxies known as ‘flocculent spirals’. Like other flocculent galaxies, NGC 3521 lacks the clearly defined, arcing structure to its spiral arms that shows up in galaxies such as Messier 101, which are called ‘grand design spirals’. In flocculent spirals, fluffy patches of stars and dust show up here and there throughout their discs. See https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1538a/
