The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shot this image of a spiral galaxy called NGC 2276.
This Hubble image shows the trailing arms of the spiral galaxy NGC 2276. The color image was made from separate exposures taken in the ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared regions of the spectrum with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). It is based on data obtained through five filters. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / P. Sell / L. Shatz.
NGC 2276 is located 120.5 million light-years away in the constellation of Cepheus.
Also known as IRAS 07101+8550, LEDA 21039 and UGC 3740, the galaxy was discovered by the German astronomer Friedrich August Theodor Winnecke on June 26, 1876.
In the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies, NGC 2276 is mentioned twice: as Arp 25 in the category ‘spiral galaxies with one heavy arm’ and as Arp 114 in the category ‘elliptical galaxies close to and perturbing spiral galaxies.’
“A closer look reveals a strangely lopsided galaxy shaped by gravitational interaction and intense star formation,” Hubble astronomers said.
“The new image showcases the unusually contorted appearance of NGC 2276, an appearance caused by two different astrophysical interactions: one with the superheated gas pervading galaxy clusters, and one with a nearby galactic neighbor.”
“The interaction of NGC 2276 with the intracluster medium — the superheated gas lying between the galaxies in galaxy clusters — has ignited a burst of star formation along one edge of the galaxy,” they added.
“This wave of star formation is visible as the bright, blue-tinged glow of newly formed massive stars towards the left side of this image, and gives the galaxy a strangely lopsided appearance.”
NGC 2276’s recent burst of star formation is related to the appearance of black holes and neutron stars in binary systems.
“On the other side of the galaxy from this burst of new stars, the gravitational attraction of a smaller companion is pulling the outer edges of NGC 2276 out of shape,” the astronomers said.
“This interaction with the small lens-shaped galaxy NGC 2300 (not seen here) has distorted the outermost spiral arms of NGC 2276, giving the false impression that the larger galaxy is orientated face-on to Earth.”
