A feathery ring of dust and stars known as galaxy NGC2775 continues to irk astronomers and has yet to be defined after NASA released updated imagery from the Hubble Space Telescope.
The galaxy about 67 million light-years away in the constellation Cancer has some distinctive features, but none that can completely define it, according to NASA.
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“NGC 2775 sports a smooth, featureless center that is devoid of gas, resembling an elliptical galaxy. It also has a dusty ring with patchy star clusters, like a spiral galaxy. Which is it: spiral or elliptical — or neither?” NASA writes.
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the galaxy NGC 2775.
(ESA/Hubble & NASA, F. Belfiore, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST Team / NASA)
While a spiral or elliptical galaxy can be defined by their shapes, a lenticular galaxy might be both, or have run out of star-forming gas, losing some spiral shape.
NASA said most astronomers would call NGC 2775 a flocculent spiral galaxy because of its “feathery” tufts of stars forming spiral-like arms.
Its strange, misshapen appearance could be explained by a merger with other galaxies, according to the space agency. However, because this galaxy is only visible from one angle, it continues to be a mystery.
This year, NASA is celebrating 35 years of incredible Hubble imagery and discoveries. The NASA and European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope launched on April 24, 1990, aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery.
