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      NGC 1313
      Wallpaper author:
      Marius Dinga

      05 Jul 2026

      NGC 1313

      "NGC 1313 (a.k.a. the Topsy Turvy Galaxy) is a field galaxy (does not belong to a larger galaxy group) and an irregular galaxy discovered by the Scottish astronomer James Dunlop in 1826. It has a diameter of about 50,000 light-years and it lies only about 15 million light years away toward the constellation of the Reticulum. It is part of the Virgo Supercluster.


      NGC 1313 has a strikingly uneven shape and its axis of rotation is not exactly in its centre. NGC 1313 also shows strong starburst activity and associated supershells. NGC 1313 is dominated by scattered patches of intense star formation, which gives the galaxy a rather ragged appearance. The uneven shape, the ragged appearance and the strong starburst can all be explained by a galactic collision in the past. However, NGC 1313 seems to be an isolated galaxy and has no direct neighbours. Therefore, it is not clear whether it has swallowed a small companion in its past.


      Young, blue stars are scattered across the galaxy. This is evidence of infant mortality in which the young open clusters quickly became gravitationally "unglued", scattering their resident stars into the galaxy. The galaxy bears some resemblance to the Magellanic Clouds and hosts two ultraluminous X-ray sources, called NGC 1313 X-1 and X-2. The former is a rare intermediate-mass black hole."(Wikipedia)

      Dataset from which the image was processed

      NGC 1313

      8 credit

      Open
      Telescope Live
      CHI-1-CMOS

      NGC 1313