Experts from the European Space Agency (ESA) have published a new image of the dwarf galaxy IC 3476. It is located 54 million light-years from Earth, in the constellation Coma Veronica.

The new image was obtained by the Hubble space observatory. The center of IC 3476 does not stand out particularly brightly because it is hidden from the observer by dust, while the outer disk and halo rotate around the center like streams of water.

The image seems almost carefree, but this impression is misleading. In fact, IC 3476 is under the pressure of intergalactic matter, which causes the gas inside the galaxy to be compressed. The greatest impact of friction is at the edge of the galaxy where no stars are being born, but in the deeper regions of IC 3476 the rate of star formation is well above average. This is evidenced by the numerous bright spots in the Hubble image that mark areas where new luminaries are actively forming.