Galaxy NGC 2775 according to the Hubble Space Telescope image. Credit: ESA / Hubble & NASA, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST team. Thanks: Judy Schmidt (Geckzilla).
The spiral pattern that shows the galaxy in this image of the POT/ THAT hubble space telescope It is striking for its delicate and feathery nature. These “flocculent” spiral arms indicate that the galaxy’s recent history of star formation, known as NGC 2775, has been relatively quiet. There is virtually no star formation in the central part of the galaxy, which is dominated by an unusually large and relatively empty galactic lump, where all the gas turned into stars long ago.
NGC 2275 is classified as a flocculent spiral galaxy, located 67 million light-years away in the constellation Cancer.
Millions of bright young blue stars shine in the complex feathery spiral arms intertwined with dark lanes of dust. The complexes of these hot blue stars are believed to cause stars to form in nearby gas clouds. The general feather-like spiral patterns of the arms are formed by shearing the gas clouds as the galaxy rotates. The spiral nature of flocculants contrasts with the large designer spirals, which have prominent, well-defined spiral arms.
