#irregular galaxy

[quiltofstars]

IC 1613, a dwarf irregular galaxy in Cetus, the Sea Monster // David Trimble

[livingforstars]

The Small Cloud of Magellan (SMC) - January 25th, 1998.

"Almost unknown to casual observers in the northern hemisphere, the southern sky contains two diffuse wonders known as the Magellanic Clouds. The Magellanic Clouds are small irregular galaxies orbiting our own Milky Way spiral galaxy. The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), pictured here, is about 250,000 light-years away and contains a preponderance of young, hot, blue stars, indicating it has undergone a recent period of star formation. There is evidence that the SMC is not gravitationally bound to the LMC."

[amnhnyc]

✨ What makes a galaxy irregular? It’s usually small and has a chaotic appearance that’s likely due to recent disturbances. Some acquire their unusual shapes from galactic encounters: When galaxies pass near each other or collide, gravity pulls and distorts their shapes—often resulting in long “tails” of stars and gas.

Image: NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, C BY 2.0, flickr

[spacetelescopescience]

Did you know galaxies are classified into three major categories: elliptical, spiral, and irregular? These galaxies span a wide range of sizes, from dwarf galaxies containing as few as 100 million stars to giant galaxies with more than a trillion stars: https://bit.ly/3WNI1Rd

[chibinotan]

Supernova Ring and Ghost Galaxy

[brightestofcentaurus]

I Zwicky 18

"Not all galaxies are spirals! I Zwicky 18 is an irregular dwarf galaxy smaller than our own, located 59 million light-years away. Two bursts of star formation lie at its heart, surrounded by wispy bubbles of gas formed by winds and radiation from hot, young stars within. This galaxy's content of elements heavier than helium is one of the lowest of all known galaxies in the local universe — making it similar to some of the first star-forming galaxies in the early universe. 

Scientists are using Webb’s unique resolution and sensitivity in the infrared to study individual dusty stars in this nearby galaxy in detail, hoping to shed light on the comparable life-cycle of stars and dust in the early universe. A blueish companion galaxy is visible at bottom right: It is interacting with the dwarf galaxy and may have triggered the star formation. Surrounding orange blobs are the dim glow from far away, fully-formed galaxies."

[sudden-stops-kill]

ngc 6822

[timbercow]

A flock of dust around a galaxy.