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Credit & Copyright: Data -
Hubble Legacy Archive,
ESA,
NASA;
Processing - Domingo Pestana Galvan, Raul Villaverde Fraile
Explanation:
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Grand spiral galaxies
often seem to get all the glory.
Their young, blue star clusters and pink star forming regions
along sweeping
spiral
arms are guaranteed to attract attention.
But small irregular galaxies form stars too, like
NGC
4449, about 12 million light-years distant.
Less than 20,000 light-years across, the small island universe is
similar in size, and often
compared
to our Milky Way's satellite
galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC).
This remarkable Hubble Space Telescope close-up of the
well-studied
galaxy was reprocessed to highlight the telltale reddish
glow of hydrogen gas.
The glow traces NGC 4449's widespread star forming regions, some
even larger than those in the LMC,
with enormous interstellar arcs and bubbles blown by short-lived,
massive stars.
NGC 4449 is a member of a
group
of galaxies found in the constellation Canes Venatici.
It also holds the distinction of being the first dwarf galaxy with an
identified tidal star stream.
Processing - Domingo Pestana Galvan, Raul Villaverde Fraile
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NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: NGC 4449 - star formation - irregular galaxy
Publications with words: NGC 4449 - star formation - irregular galaxy
See also: