Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
This Hubble image shows NGC 4789A, a dwarf irregular galaxy in the constellation of Coma Berenices. It certainly lives up to its name — the stars that call this galaxy home are smeared out across the sky in an apparently disorderly and irregular jumble, giving NGC 4789A a far more subtle and abstract appearance than its glitzy spiral and elliptical cousins.
These
stars may look as if they have been randomly sprinkled on the sky, but
they are all held together by gravity. The colours in this image have
been deliberately exaggerated to emphasise the mix of blue and red
stars. The blue stars are bright, hot and massive stars that have formed
relatively recently, whereas the red stars are much older. The presence
of both tells us that stars have been forming in this galaxy throughout
its history.
At a distance of just over 14 million light-years away NGC 4789A is
relatively close to us, allowing us to see many of the individual stars
within its bounds. This image also reveals numerous other galaxies, far
more distant, that appear as fuzzy shapes spread across the image.
Source: ESA/Hubble/Images
