The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a spectacular new image of the dwarf galaxy IC 4710.
This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the dwarf irregular galaxy IC 4710. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Judy Schmidt, www.geckzilla.com.
IC 4710, also known as LEDA 61922 and IRAS 18235-6700, was discovered in 1900 by the American astronomer DeLisle Stewart.
It lies approximately 27.7 million light-years away in the southern constellation of Pavo.
IC 4710 is classified as a dwarf irregular galaxy.
As the name suggests, such galaxies are irregular and chaotic in appearance, lacking central bulges and spiral arms — they are distinctly different from spiral or elliptical galaxies.
It is thought that irregular galaxies may once have been spirals or ellipticals, but became distorted over time through external gravitational forces during interactions or mergers with other galaxies.
Dwarf irregulars in particular are important to our overall understanding of galactic evolution, as they are thought to be similar to the first galaxies that formed in the Universe.
This new image of IC 4710 is made up of observations from Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) in the near-infrared and optical parts of the spectrum.
It is based on data obtained through two filters: a broad V-band (F606W) filter and a near-infrared (F814W) filter.
The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter.
