Lenticular galaxy IC 335 imaged by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The galaxy is in front of a backdrop of distant galaxies. IC 335 is 45, 000 light-years long and is located in the Fornax Galaxy Cluster, 60 million light-years from Earth. The disc of IC 335 appears edge-on from the vantage point of Earth. Lenticular galaxies are an intermediate state in galaxy morphological classification schemes between true spiral and elliptical galaxies. They have a thin stellar disc and a bulge, like spiral galaxies. In contrast to typical spiral galaxies they have used up most of the interstellar medium and only a few new stars can be created out of the material that is left, with very low star formation rates. | |
Licence : | Droits gérés |
Crédit: | Science Photo Library / STScI / ESA / NASA |
Taille de l’image : | 4579 px × 3816 px |
Model Release : | Non requis |
Property Release : | Non requis |
Restrictions : | - |