NGC 2336 was discovered over a century ago, but the big, blue spiral galaxy has never looked better, thanks to an eye-catching image obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope.
German astronomer Wilhelm Tempel discovered NGC 2336 in 1876, which he did with a humble 0.28 metre telescope. He could’ve scarcely imagined a photo like this, taken by Hubble’s 2.4 metre main mirror, according to a NASA press release.
NGC 2336 is approximately 100 million light-years away and located in the northern constellation of Camelopardalis (which depicts a giraffe). With its eight prominent spiral arms, NGC 2336 measures some 200 light-years across. By contrast, the Milky Way — another spiral galaxy — is around half that size, measuring 105,000 light-years in diameter.
[referenced id=”843386″ url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2015/01/hubble-took-an-even-better-version-of-one-of-its-best-photos-ever/” thumb=”https://gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/06/mckmvsdtj0cmlgakdkrl-300×155.jpg” title=”Hubble Took An Even Better Version Of One Of Its Best Photos Ever” excerpt=”Back in 1995, the Hubble telescope took an absolutely breathtaking photo of stars being formed that’s now known as “Pillars of Creation”. And now, 20 years later, NASA has released a couple of new images of the same star formation that was taken by a new and improved Hubble last…”]
The gigantic galaxy is filled with young stars, which appear in blue, while older stars, many located toward the centre, shine in red.
Interestingly, NGC 2336 produced a visible supernova, which astronomers detected on August 16, 1987. It was later determined to be a type 1a supernova, in which the exploding member of a binary pair is a white dwarf.