The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has produced an absolutely beautiful image of the interior of NGC 1569, one of the most active galaxies in our local neighborhood.
This Hubble image shows the dwarf irregular galaxy NGC 1569. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Aloisi Ford / Judy Schmidt, www.geckzilla.com.
NGC 1569, also known as LEDA 15345, UGC 3056 and Apg 210, is a dwarf irregular galaxy discovered by German-born British astronomer William Herschel in 1788.
It lies in the constellation Camelopardalis, about 11 million light-years away, and is a member of the IC 342/Maffei group of galaxies.
NGC 1569 is also a starburst galaxy, meaning it is currently forming stars at an exceptionally high rate.
For almost 100 million years, NGC 1569 has pumped out stars over 100 times faster than our Milky Way Galaxy.
As a result, this glittering galaxy is home to super star clusters, three of which are visible in this Hubble image – one of the two bright clusters is actually the superposition of two massive clusters.
Each containing more than a million stars, these brilliant blue clusters reside within a large cavity of gas carved out by multiple supernovae.
Astronomers suspect that the IC 342/ Maffei cluster is responsible for the star-forming frenzy observed in NGC 1569.
Gravitational interactions in this galactic group are believed to be compressing the gas within NGC 1569.
As it is compressed, the gas collapses, heats up and forms new stars.
This image of NGC 1569 was made from separate exposures taken in the visible and UV regions of the spectrum with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS).
It is based on data obtained through three filters: a green (F555W) filter, a red (F658N) filter and a near-UV (F330W) filter.
