Hubble Sees Galaxy

The Hubble Space Telescope has captured an image of the lenticular galaxy NGC 1266, located 100 million light-years away in the constellation Eridanus. This galaxy is a rare post-starburst galaxy, meaning it has a young population of stars but few star-forming regions.

NGC 1266 is thought to have undergone a minor merger with another galaxy 500 million years ago, triggering the formation of new stars and increasing the mass of its central bulge. The galaxy's supermassive black hole became more active, generating powerful winds and jets of gas that depleted its reservoir of star-forming gas.

Hubble's observations reveal a strong outflow of gas from the galaxy and a highly disturbed space between its stars. The remaining stellar nurseries are found in the galaxy's core, with very little to no star formation occurring beyond that core.