Suggested Searches

An irregular galaxy, a narrow streak of stars crossed by faint dust lanes. A bright glow surrounds it, appearing like a beam of light in the center of a dark background. A scatter of small, distant galaxies and a single, bright star surround the galaxy.

NGC 2814

This Hubble image displays NGC 2814, an irregular galaxy that lies about 85 million light years from Earth. The galaxy appears to be quite isolated: visually, it looks a little like a loose stroke of bright paint across a dark background. However, looks can be deceiving. NGC 2814 actually has three close (in astronomical terms) galactic neighbors: a side-on spiral galaxy known as NGC 2820; an irregular galaxy named IC 2458; and a face-on non-barred spiral galaxy called NGC 2805. Collectively, the four galaxies make up a galaxy group known as Holmberg 124.

Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, C. Kilpatrick
Download