Unusual Dusty Galaxy NGC 7049
Explanation:
How was this unusual looking galaxy created?
No one is sure, especially since spiral galaxy NGC 7049 looks so strange.
NGC 7049's strikingly appearance is primarily due to an unusually prominent
dust ring seen mostly in
silhouette.
The
opaque ring is much
darker than the din of millions of bright stars glowing
behind it.
Besides the dark dust, NGC 7049 appears similar to a smooth
elliptical galaxy,
although featuring surprisingly few
globular
star clusters.
NGC 7049 is
pictured above as imaged recently by the
Hubble Space Telescope.
The bright star near the top of
NGC 7049 is an unrelated foreground star in our own Galaxy.
Not visible here is unusual central
polar ring
of gas circling out of the plane near the galaxy's center.
Since
NGC 7049 is
the brightest galaxy in its
cluster of galaxies,
its formation might be fostered by several prominent and recent
galaxy collisions.
NGC 7049 spans
about 150 thousand light years and lies about 100 million
light years
away toward the
constellation
of Indus.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
