Hubble Gazes at NGC 2366

NGC 2366 is a small, irregular dwarf galaxy 10 million light years away in the direction of the constellation  Camelopardalis - the giraffe.

NGC 2366 Credit: NASAESA

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The clearly visible blue region in the upper-right corner of the image is the star-forming nebula NGC 2363.

Broadly similar to the Milky Way’s satellite galaxies the Large and Small Magellanic cloud NGC 2366 may be small in comparison to many of the galaxies we are more accustomed to viewing in Hubble image though this doesn’t stop it from being a very active star factory indeed.

The smattering of active regions indicates that the galaxy is producing a great deal of the high mass blue stars (the blue smudges – and of course within NGC 2363).

The image was produced using Hubble’s infrared and green filters and so even though these regions appear blue they are actually a shade of red.

The image spans a distance of roughly 1/5 the diameter of the full moon though the galaxy itself is much too faint to be seen with the naked eye.

The view also captures a much more distant spiral galaxy which can be seen as the orange-brown structure in the upper middle portion of the image.

You can read more about the image here