NASA’s iconic Hubble Space Telescope has spotted this new irregular shaped galaxy named as NGC 2337, located 25 million light-years away in the constellation of Lynx. The galaxy lacks regularity in its structure, similar to 25 percent of other irregular galaxies in our universe.
The galaxy is not new and it was first discovered by the French astronomer Édouard Stephan in the year 1877. He is also known for discovering the galactic group Stephan’s Quintet in the same year.
Irregular shaped galaxies give important information to astronomers and help us in developing a better understanding of how the evolution took place. 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. Although, irregular galaxies are not as beautiful as other symmetrical galaxies or elliptical galaxies but they do appeal to the astronomers.
NASA scientists believe that “despite the disruption, gravitational interactions between galaxies can kick-start 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.”
Hubble Space Telescope (HST) was launched back in 1990 and since then it has peeked into the deepest corners of the universe. HST is a joint venture of NASA and ESA while it is managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. At present, it is the largest telescope present in the orbit. However, soon it will be replaced by the NASA’s James Webb Telescope which has thrice larger lens than HST.
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