A galaxy askew: NASA's Hubble delivers a queer image – a lopsided lynx! (See pic)

New Delhi: NASA's Hubble has once again managed to stun scientists and space enthusiasts alike with its latest capture.

The American space agency has released a beautiful image taken by the space telescope, which shows a galaxy that boasts of a distinct characteristic – the fact that it lacks a regular appearance.

NGC 2337, the galaxy in question, resides 25 million light-years away in the constellation of Lynx.

French astronomer Édouard Stephan discovered this galaxy in 1877, the same year in which he also discovered the galactic group Stephan’s Quintet (heic0910i).

Irregular galaxies like NGC 2337, although may not be the same as their symmetrical apiral and elliptical counterparts, still hold an importance for astronomers.

 

As per NASA, irregular galaxies provide astronomers with a valuable opportunity to learn more about galactic evolution and interaction.

Some irregular galaxies may have once fallen into one of the regular classes of the Hubble sequence, but were warped and deformed by a passing cosmic companion.

 

NASA further explains that, despite the disruption, gravitational interactions between galaxies can kick-start star formation activity within the affected galaxies, which may explain the pockets of blue light scattered throughout NGC 2337. These patches and knots of blue signal the presence of young, newly formed, hot stars.