Big, Beautiful and Blue
NGC 2336 is the quintessential galaxy — big, beautiful and blue — and it is captured here by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The barred spiral galaxy stretches an immense 200 000 light-years across and is located approximately 100 million light years away in the northern constellation of Camelopardalis (The Giraffe).
Its spiral arms are glittered with young stars, visible in their bright blue light. In contrast, the redder central part of the galaxy is dominated by older stars.
NGC 2336 was discovered in 1876 by German astronomer Wilhelm Tempel, using a 28-centimetre telescope. This Hubble image is so much better than the view Tempel would have had — Hubble’s main mirror is 2.4 metres across, nearly ten times the size of the telescope Tempel used. In 1987, NGC 2336 experienced a Type-Ia supernova, the only observed supernova in the galaxy since its discovery 111 years earlier.
Credit:ESA/Hubble & NASA, V. Antoniou
Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt
About the Image
Id: | potw2109a |
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Type: | Observation |
Release date: | 1 March 2021, 06:00 |
Size: | 7734 x 3055 px |
About the Object
Name: | NGC 2336 |
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Constellation: | Camelopardalis |
Category: | Galaxies |
Image Formats
Wallpapers
Coordinates
Position (RA): | 7 27 3.61 |
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Position (Dec): | 80° 10' 33.58" |
Field of view: | 6.44 x 2.55 arcminutes |
Orientation: | North is 104.1° left of vertical |
Colours & filters
Band | Wavelength | Telescope |
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Optical B | 435 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
ACS |
Optical V | 555 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
ACS |
Optical I | 814 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
ACS |