The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured this vivid image of nearby galaxy NGC 2337.
This image, taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys on board the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows the irregular galaxy NGC 2337. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.
NGC 2337, also known as LEDA 20298 and UGC 3711, is located in the constellation of Lynx, 25.8 million light-years away from Earth.
It was discovered on January 17, 1877 by the French astronomer Édouard Jean-Marie Stephan.
NGC 2337 is classified as an irregular galaxy, meaning that it lacks a distinct, regular appearance.
Although irregular galaxies may never win a beauty prize when competing with their more symmetrical spiral and elliptical peers, astronomers consider them to be very important.
Some irregular galaxies may have once fallen into one of the regular classes of the Hubble sequence, but were warped and deformed by a passing cosmic companion.
As such, irregular galaxies provide astronomers with a valuable opportunity to learn more about galactic evolution and interaction.
Despite the disruption, gravitational interactions between galaxies can kickstart star formation activity within the affected galaxies, which may explain the pockets of blue light scattered throughout NGC 2337.
These patches and knots of blue signal the presence of young, newly formed, hot stars.
This image of NGC 2337 is composed of infrared and optical observations from Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys.
Two filters (broad V-band filter F606W and infrared filter F814W) were used to sample various wavelengths.
The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter.
