Explanation:
In this tantalizing
image, young blue star clusters
and pink star-forming regions abound in
NGC 1427A, a galaxy in motion.
The small irregular galaxy's
swept back outline points toward the top of this picture
from the Hubble Space Telescope -
and that is indeed the direction NGC 1427A is moving as
it travels toward the center of the
Fornax
cluster of galaxies, some 62 million light-years away.
Over 20,000 light-years long and similar to the
nearby Large Magellanic Cloud,
NGC
1427A is speeding through the
Fornax cluster's
intergalactic gas at around
600 kilometers per second.
The resulting pressure is giving the galaxy its
arrowhead outline, triggering the beautiful but
violent episodes of star formation.
Still, it is understood that
interactions with cluster gas and the other
cluster galaxies
during its headlong flight will ultimately
disrupt
galaxy NGC 1427A.
Many unrelated background galaxies are visible in
the sharp Hubble image, including a striking
face-on
spiral galaxy at the upper left.
