IC 5152

IC 5152 is an irregular galaxy, this small blue galaxy is resolved into stars in this image, which means that it is relatively nearby. However, despite its proximity, it is probably just beyond the Local Group, which is a loose collection of 30 or so galaxies within 2 or 3 million light years of the Milky Way.

Apart from the Milky Way and the similarly massive M31 galaxy in Andromeda, most of our immediate extra-galactic neighbors are light-weight collections of stars and gas like IC 5152, though few (except the Large Magellanic Cloud) show such strong evidence of recent star formation.

The large bright star in this image is an 8th magnitude blue star in the Milky Way.

Imaged in LRGB on a Planewave CDK 24 at Observatorio El Sauce, Chile.

Image Processing: Mark Hanson and Mike Selby