Credit: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage) and H. Schweiker (WIYN and NOIRLab/NSF/AURA)

This image was obtained with the wide-field view of the Mosaic camera on the Mayall 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. NGC 2146, the large galaxy in the lower-right corner of the image, is classified as a peculiar barred spiral. It is also considered to be a starburst galaxy because stars are forming inside it at a rapid rate. NGC 2146 is likely two galaxies that collided and are near the end of the process of merging. The smaller galaxy in the upper-left corner, NGC 2146A, is likely a companion galaxy. Its role in the star-formation or merger history of NGC 2146 is unclear. The image was generated with observations in the B (blue), V (green), I (orange) and Hydrogen-Alpha (red) filters. In this image, North is up, East is to the left.

Provider: NOIRLab

Image Source: https://noirlab.edu/public/images/noao-ngc2146/

Curator: NSF's NOIRLab, Tucson, AZ, USA

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License