NASA / ESA’s Hubble Space Telescope observes hazy elliptical galaxy NGC 4694 located 54 million light-years away in the Virgo galaxy cluster. Its appearance is caused by a smooth-looking, armless disc which is mostly devoid of star formation.
However, looks can most certainly deceive, as NGC 4694’s stellar population is still relatively young and new stars are still actively forming in its core. This explains the brightness we can see in this image, but the galaxy is also suffused by the kinds of gas as well as dust normally seen in a young spiral.
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As this Hubble image shows, the dust in this galaxy forms chaotic structures that indicate some kind of disturbance. It turns out that the cloud of hydrogen gas around NGC 4694 forms a long bridge to a nearby, faint dwarf galaxy named VCC 2062. The two galaxies have undergone a violent collision, and the larger NGC 4694 is accreting gas from the smaller galaxy,” said the ESA.
