Galaxy NGC 4027 in Corvus
author: Anglo-Australian Observatory/David Malin Images/Novapix
reference: a-gax40-27001
Image Size 300 DPI: 40 * 51 cm
This galaxy is of interest because of its similarity to the Large Magellanic Cloud, (LMC) our nearest extra-galactic neighbour. Like the LMC, its light comes predominantly from young stars, which are hotter than the Sun and give the galaxy a bluish colour. However, because this galaxy is over 80 million light-years distant we see only the integrated light of millions of unresolved stars, rather than the individuals we see in the LMC. NGC 4027 has a somewhat distorted appearance and an elongated spiral arm, probably due to the gravitational effect of a smaller companion galaxy, not visible in this photograph but rather obvious on a much deeper image. NGC 4027 is less than half a degree south of the Antennae interacting galaxies.