Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cassiopeia (Cas)  ·  Contains:  IC 10
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IC 10, Gary Imm
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IC 10

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IC 10, Gary Imm
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IC 10

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Description

This object is a dwarf irregular galaxy located only 2 million light years away in the constellation of Cassiopeia. It is about 5000 light years in diameter. Because this object lies near the plane of the Milky Way, it is heavily obscured by interstellar matter.

This object is special because it is the only known starburst galaxy in our Local Group of galaxies, as seen in the many pink HII regions in the image. The galaxy is enveloped by hydrogen gas which appears to rotate in the opposite direction to the visual part of the galaxy.

Some sources report that, because of its proximity, it is possible to image some of the individual brightest stars in the galaxy. It is rare to be able to image individual stars outside of our galaxy. It is not clear to me in my image whether the faint points of light within the galaxy are individual stars or star clusters.

A number of dark dust lanes and patches can be seen in the galaxy image.

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