Elliptical Galaxy PGC 6240

The beautiful, petal-like shells of galaxy PGC 6240, set against a sky full of distant background galaxies, are captured here in intricate detail. PGC 6240 is an elliptical galaxy approximately 350 million light-years away in the southern constellation of Hydrus (the Water Snake). It is orbited by a number of globular clusters that contain both young and old stars — a fact thought to be the result of a galactic merger in the recent past.