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NGC 2276

On a black, starry background is a large spiral galaxy filled with streaks of blue and pink. Its right-side arm appears to be breaking away from the rest of the galaxy.

The magnificent spiral galaxy NGC 2276 looks a bit lopsided in this Hubble Space Telescope snapshot. A bright hub of older yellowish stars normally lies directly in the center of most spiral galaxies. But the bulge in NGC 2276 looks offset to the upper left. 

In reality, a neighboring galaxy to the right of NGC 2276 (NGC 2300, not seen here) is gravitationally tugging on its disk of blue stars, pulling the stars on one side of the galaxy outward to distort the galaxy's normal fried-egg appearance.

This sort of "tug of war" between galaxies that pass close enough to feel each other's gravitational pull is not uncommon in the universe. But, like snowflakes, no two close encounters look exactly alike.

In addition, newborn and short-lived massive stars form a bright, blue arm along the upper left edge of NGC 2276. They trace out a lane of intense star formation. This may have been triggered by a prior collision with a dwarf galaxy. It could also be due to NGC 2276 plowing into the superheated gas that lies among galaxies in galaxy clusters. This would compress the gas to precipitate into stars, and trigger a firestorm of starbirth.

The spiral galaxy lies 120 million light-years away, in the northern constellation Cepheus.

This image was taken as part of the HST observation program #15615 (PI: P. Sell), a collaboration between the University of Florida (USA), the University of Crete/FORTH (Greece), INAF-Brera (Italy), and the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (USA).

About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    07:27:33.61
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    85:45:29.95
  • Constellation
    ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
    Cepheus
  • Distance
    DistanceThe physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs.
    120 million light-years
  • Dimensions
    DimensionsThe physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky.
    Image is 2.5 arcmin across (about 88,000 light-years)

About the Data

  • Data Description
    Data DescriptionProposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
    Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.

     The Hubble image was created from HST data from proposals: 15615 (P. Sell)

  • Instrument
    InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
    WFC3/UVIS
  • Exposure Dates
    Exposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
    31 Jul - 20 Aug 2019
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    F275W, F336W, F438W, F555W, F814W
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    NGC 2276
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Interacting Spiral Galaxy
  • Release Date
    May 27, 2021
  • Science Release
    Hubble Views Lopsided Galaxy NGC 2276
    Read the release
  • Credit
    NASA, ESA, STScI, Paul Sell (University of Florida)

Downloads

  • Full Res, 3811 × 4081
    tif (37.35 MB)
  • Full Res, 3811 × 4081
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  • 1867 × 2000
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On a black, starry background is a large spiral galaxy filled with streaks of blue and pink. Its right-side arm appears to be breaking away from the rest of the galaxy.
Color Info
Color InfoA brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.

These images are a composite of separate exposures acquired by the WFC3 instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope. Several filters were used to sample narrow wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are: Purple: F275W Blue: F336W Cyan: F438W Green: F555W Red: F814W

Compass and Scale
Compass and ScaleAn astronomical image with a scale that shows how large an object is on the sky, a compass that shows how the object is oriented on the sky, and the filters with which the image was made.

Related Images & Videos

On a black, starry background are three bright objects in a horizontal row at the center: a bright star, a large spiral galaxy, and a smaller yellow galaxy.

NGC 2276 Wide-Field

This pair of galaxies are close enough together they are in a "tug of war" as they pass close enough to feel each other's gravitational pull. This is evident in the lopsided appearance of the blue galaxy on the left, NGC 2276. It is being pulled by the neighboring galaxy on the...

Annotated image of a large spiral galaxy filled with streaks of blue and pink on a black, starry background, with compass arrows, a scale bar, and color key for reference. Its right-side arm appears to be breaking away from the rest of the galaxy.

NGC 2276 Compass

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Details

Last Updated
Mar 28, 2025
Contact
Media

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

Acknowledgment Credit

Leo Shatz

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