IC 2574

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This nice little dwarf galaxy holds less than half of our own galaxy in diameter and is said to contain huge, highly active star forming regions, very well visible in this image as imperfect defined gaseous knots at around 1 and 3 o'clock. These very regions are called SGS, super giant shells, appearing as 30" x 60" in diameter. According to theory these shells are said to comprise very hot H-I-gas, which is the driver for the still ongoing process of expansion (25km/sec), which is rarely seen, as in most dwarf galaxies this process has already stalled. As a result of this enormous temperature, expectations on X-ray emittissions have indeed been detected by ROSAT.

Image data acquired and preprocessed by Martin Winder: 16" RC on Paramount, SBIG ST10, The Sky, CCD Stack
Image processing by Dietmar Hager: Maxim DL, CCD Stack, (Deconv.), Pix Insight LE, PS CS2