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> The irregular galaxy NGC 1427A in Fornax
The irregular galaxy NGC 1427A in Fornax
author: NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Team/Novapix
reference: a-gax14-27001
Image Size 300 DPI: 28 * 32 cm
The irregular galaxy NGC 1427A is a small bluish galaxy plunging headlong into the Fornax galaxy group at 600 kilometers per second or nearly 400 miles per second. NGC 1427A, which is located some 62 million light-years away from Earth in the direction of the constellation Fornax, shows numerous hot, blue stars in this image obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope. These blue stars have been formed very recently, showing that star formation is occurring extensively throughout the galaxy. NGC 1427A will not survive long as an identifiable galaxy passing through the cluster. Within the next billion years, it will be completely disrupted, spilling its stars and remaining gas into intergalactic space within the Fornax cluster. To the upper left of NGC 1427A is a background galaxy that happens to lie near Hubble's line of sight but is some 25 times further away.
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