Skip Navigation
menu close modal
Resources

Irregular Galaxy (Version Two)

A rounded, boomerang-shaped diffuse purple blob that's darker around the rim with a light, whitish center. White dots representing stars speckle the image.
Credit: NASA
Published: December 19, 2022

An illustration showing an irregular galaxy. The colors depicted in this illustration are for artistic purposes only.

ENLARGE

Explore the Universe

Related

An illustration of a planetary nebula.
More
A subtly transparent, colorful hourglass shape has a central point that is a white circle surrounded by bright, white haze. Extending outward from the center in opposite directions are plums of color that form the hourglass shape. The central part of each plume starts as an icy, light blue and fades upward into a purple color and outward into red. White dots representing stars speckle the image.
Planetary Nebula (Version Two, Purple)
An illustration of a purple spiral galaxy.
More
A hazy range of purples makes up the base of this swirling spiral of light blue lines twirling inward toward a yellow cloud with a white spot in the center. White dots representing stars speckle the image.
Spiral Galaxy (Purple)
An illustration of NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.
More
This illustration shows NASA's Roman mission in shades of blue. A multi-sided cylindrical body has an opening at its top. Exending from the opening are panels along the top half. A flat panel on the back represents the solar panel. Along the side of the body a few instruments are visible.
Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope
An illustration of JAXA’s XRISM spacecraft.
More
This illustration shows NASA's XRISM spacecraft in shades of blue. A multi-sided cylindrical body has solar array "wings" on either side and a smaller, rounded cylindrical front with small pieces of the instrument at the very front.
XRISM (X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission)
An illustration of the International Space Station.
More
This illustration shows the International Space Station in shades of blue. The space station has a thin middle body made up of different small modules. Extending out from the middle body of the station, each side is flanked by a "wing" made up of a series of long, rectangular solar array pieces.
International Space Station
An illustration showing a face-on view of a black hole.
More
A graphic shows a dark but diffuse purple ring that is centered in the image. The dark purple fades into a bright purple, then a light blue that fades lighter towards the center where there is a bold, black circle.
Black Hole
An illustration of one of NASA's OAO spacecraft.
More
This illustration shows one of NASA's OAO spacecraft in shades of blue. The body of the satellite is an octagon. The telescope opening is embedded at the top of the octagon, which also has a flap that is open. Two-layered solar panels are attached on both sides. Antennae extend from the top and bottom.
OAO (Orbiting Astronomical Observatory)
An illustration of NASA's Fermi spacecraft.
More
Fermi is illustrated in multiple shades of blue. With two "wings" coming out of its sides, each with three panels of solar arrays, the main body of the spacecraft is box-shaped. It has a main body with one open side with small components visible within and a smaller, darker box on top.
Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope
An illustration of JAXA's Hitomi spacecraft.
More
This Hitomi illustration shows the space telescope in shades of blue. The main body of the spacecraft is a long octagon with a cylindrical object on the front end. The cylinder has several smaller cylinders extending from it. On the back end of the satellite extends a long pole that ends in an octagonal panel. Solar panels extend to either side of the main body.
Hitomi
An illustration showing an irregular galaxy.
More
An amorphous, diffuse purple blob that's darker around the rim with a light, whitish center. White dots representing stars speckle the image.
Irregular Galaxy (Version One)
An illustration of ESA's Planck spacecraft.
More
This illustration shows ESA's Planck spacecraft in shades of blue. The craft has a circular base topped by a short instrument with an open top and instrument pieces visible inside.
Planck
An illustration of a long gamma-ray burst caused by a collapsing star.
More
At the center of a series of nested blue circles is a black dot representing a black hole. A pair of cone-shaped, white jets emerge from either side of the black hole, tilted 45 degrees from vertical. The outermost blue circle has layered scalloped edges.
Long Gamma-Ray Burst From a Collapsing Star
A circular illustration of a supernova.
More
A large circular shape with rounded waves around the edge, this graphic gives the appearance of a flower. Smaller transparent circles with the same wavy edge are layered inward to create an inner starburst shape. While the outer rings are a muddy, light red color, the inner starburst shape is a darker color with green around its edge and dark blue in the center. White dots representing stars speckle the image.
Supernova (Red)
An illustration of a blazar, or an active galactic nucleus that emits a powerful radiation jet. 
More
A graphic shows a diffused, dark purple ring that fades inward to a bright purple, a lighter purple, and eventually to a light blue gradient. At the center of the circular object is a small black circle from which a transparent beam is emitted, starting as a transparent blue and moving into green, yellow, orange and red.
Blazar
An illustration of ESA's XMM Newton observatory.
More
This illustration shows ESA's XMM-Newton observatory in shades of blue. Overall, the craft is dragonfly-shaped with a long, cylindrical body and an open "head" from which two solar array "wings" extend.
XMM Newton (X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission Newton)
An illustration of a blue spiral galaxy.
More
A hazy range of blues with darker blue around the edge makes up the base of this swirling spiral of white lines twirling inward toward a white cloud with a white spot in the center. White dots representing stars speckle the image.
Spiral Galaxy (Blue)
An illustration of a yellow  elliptical galaxy.
More
A diffuse oval is outlined by light yellow but gets progressively more opaque moving towards the center, a bright white spot surrounded by a small ring of white haze. White dots representing stars speckle the image.
Elliptical Galaxy (Yellow)
An illustration showing the side of an irregular galaxy.
More
A very long, diffuse, vaguely oval-shaped blob has a hazy dark purple color around its edge and it gets progressively lighter moving inward toward a cloudy white center. White dots representing stars speckle the image.
Irregular Galaxy (Side View)
An illustration of NASA's NuSTAR space telescope.
More
This illustration shows NASA's NuSTAR space telescope in shades of blue. Attached to the base of the instrument is a long, tower-like structure that extends out towards the front of the spacecraft that has a singular, wing-shaped solar array attached.
NuSTAR (Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array)
An illustration of NASA's NICER X-ray observatory.
More
This illustration shows NASA's NICER observatory in shades of blue. A smaller, flat and square lower half connects to a top half that is cube-shaped with a series of small, circular pieces across its face.
NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer)
An illustration of the COSI spacecraft.
More
COSI is illustrated in light and dark blues. The spacecraft has a hexagonal body topped with a box with various attachments. One solar panel extends to the left side of the satellite’s body.
COSI (Compton Spectrometer and Imager)
An illustration of NASA’s CGRO spacecraft.
More
A graphic of CGRO is shown in light and dark shades of blue. The body of the spacecraft is rectangular, topped with two circular objects. Solar panels extend to either side, and a long pole with a small satellite dish at the end extends from the front end of the spacecraft.
CGRO (Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory)
An illustration of a planetary nebula.
More
In the background is a hazy blue circle, with dark, transparent blue around the edge and lighter/brighter blues leading inward. In front of the blue circle is a blueish-gray object, shaped like a minimal, twisty lemon. Inside of this shape is a central, light yellow, cloudy circle with a bright white spot in the middle. All within the lemon-shaped object, the white spot is surrounded by an oblong oval shape which is overlapped by two large circular shapes and two small circular shapes. White dots representing stars speckle the image.
Planetary Nebula (Version One, Blue)
An illustration of NASA's ASTHROS spacecraft.
More
A graphic of ASTHROS is shown in light and dark shades of blue and has a main cage-like body with large, rectangular panels stemming from its sides, small square panels on its lower half, and a thin structure protruding from the top. (This structure will attach to a large balloon). A telescope protrudes from the back of the structure.
ASTHROS (Astrophysics Stratospheric Telescope for High Spectral Resolution)
An illustration showing the side of a purple spiral galaxy.
More
A horizontal oval is outlined by a diffuse, bright purple surrounding a darker purple outline which fades through lighter and brighter purple colors as it moves inward. The center of the shape is a hazy yellow circle. Cutting across the center of the image is a flattened disc outlined in light blue with a blueish-gray center. White dots representing stars speckle the image.
Spiral Galaxy (Side View, Purple)

Explore the Universe

Related News

NGC 3156 is a lenticular galaxy, with two visible threads of dark reddish-brown dust crossing the galaxy’s disk.
More
Hubble Spots a Dreamy Galaxy
Hubble Spots a Dreamy Galaxy
A new collection of stunning images highlights data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes.
More
A Fab Five: New Images with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory
A Fab Five: New Images with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory
The swirls of the galaxy IC 1776 stand in splendid isolation in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.
More
Hubble Images a Swirling Supernova Site
Hubble Images a Swirling Supernova Site
This huge ball of stars – around 100 billion in total – is an elliptical galaxy located some 55 million light-years away.
More
Hubble Views a Sphere of Stars
Hubble Views a Sphere of Stars
This galaxy in the constellation Eridanus is a ghostly assemblage of stars which resembles a sparkling cloud.
More
Hubble Sees a Sparkling Neighbor Galaxy
Hubble Sees a Sparkling Neighbor Galaxy
This distant galaxy cluster is a cosmic leviathan that is highly luminous at X-ray wavelengths.
More
Hubble Captures Cosmic Cluster
Hubble Captures Cosmic Cluster
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope continued observations of the farthest star ever detected in the very distant universe.
More
Webb Reveals Colors of Earendel, Most Distant Star Ever Detected
Webb Reveals Colors of Earendel, Most Distant Star Ever Detected
The glittering, glitzy contents of the globular cluster NGC 6652 sparkle in this star-studded image.
More
Hubble Glimpses a Glitzy Galactic Cluster
Hubble Glimpses a Glitzy Galactic Cluster
The two instruments aboard Euclid, an ESA spacecraft with NASA contributions, have captured their first test images.
More
Euclid Mission to Study Dark Universe Takes First Test Images
Euclid Mission to Study Dark Universe Takes First Test Images
The tranquil spiral galaxy UGC 12295 basks leisurely in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.
More
Hubble Peers at a Tranquil Galaxy
Hubble Peers at a Tranquil Galaxy
The irregular galaxy Arp 263 lurks in the background of this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.
More
Hubble Images a Starstruck Galaxy
Hubble Images a Starstruck Galaxy
The discovery of the most distant galaxy cluster is providing insight into how these gigantic structures formed and why the universe looks like it does.
More
Unexpectedly Calm and Remote Galaxy Cluster Discovered
Unexpectedly Calm and Remote Galaxy Cluster Discovered
While our telescopes can’t directly see dark matter, they can help us figure out more about it thanks to a phenomenon called gravitational lensing.
More
How Gravity Warps Light
How Gravity Warps Light
A new satellite called XRISM (X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission) aims to pry apart high-energy light into the equivalent of an X-ray rainbow.
More
XRISM Mission To Study ‘Rainbow' of X-rays
XRISM Mission To Study ‘Rainbow' of X-rays
The Hubble Space Telescope has captured a monster in the making in this observation of the exceptional galaxy cluster eMACS J1353.7+4329.
More
Hubble Views a Galactic Monster
Hubble Views a Galactic Monster
This visualization of the galaxies captured as a part of the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science Survey, showcases a large undertaking by Webb.
More
New 3D Visualization Highlights 5,000 Galaxies Revealed by Webb
New 3D Visualization Highlights 5,000 Galaxies Revealed by Webb
The spiral galaxy UGC 11860 seems to float serenely against a field of background galaxies in this image from the Hubble Space Telescope.
More
Hubble Observes a Stunning Spiral
Hubble Observes a Stunning Spiral
Observations of two Type II supernovae have revealed large amounts of dust within the ejecta of each of these objects.
More
Webb Locates Dust Reservoirs in Two Supernovae
Webb Locates Dust Reservoirs in Two Supernovae
The Euclid spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 11:12 a.m. EDT on Saturday, July 1.
More
ESA's Euclid Mission Launches to Explore ‘Dark Universe'
ESA's Euclid Mission Launches to Explore ‘Dark Universe'
The galaxy ESO 174-1, which resembles a hazy cloud against a backdrop of bright stars, dominates this image from Hubble Space Telescope.
More
Hubble Checks in on a Galactic Neighbor
Hubble Checks in on a Galactic Neighbor
Astronomers discovered an arrangement of 10 galaxies that existed just 830 million years after the big bang.
More
NASA's Webb Identifies the Earliest Strands of the Cosmic Web
NASA's Webb Identifies the Earliest Strands of the Cosmic Web
The galaxy NGC 7292 billows across this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.
More
Hubble Captures a Billowing Irregular Galaxy
Hubble Captures a Billowing Irregular Galaxy
New data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has pinpointed the reason gas between stars and galaxies turned transparent.
More
NASA's Webb Proves Galaxies Transformed the Early Universe
NASA's Webb Proves Galaxies Transformed the Early Universe
The jellyfish galaxy JO206 trails across this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.
More
Hubble Observes a Cosmic Sea Creature
Hubble Observes a Cosmic Sea Creature
A group of galaxies is plunging into the Coma galaxy cluster and leaving behind an enormous tail of superheated gas.
More
Galaxies Go on a Deep Dive and Leave Fiery Tail Behind
Galaxies Go on a Deep Dive and Leave Fiery Tail Behind