NGC 2841 is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major, or "the Great Bear". It is a prototypical flocculent spiral galaxy, a type of spiral galaxy whose arms are patchy and discontinuous. A bright, yellow nucleus of starlight marks the galaxy’s center, but the western part of this island universe is partly obscured by the galaxy’s halo, reducing the contrast in this area. There seems to be a faint tidal stream out from the north-west of the galaxy.
The patchy but symmetrical, tightly wound spiral arms contain many star clusters with large populations of young blue stars, and a population of whitish middle-aged stars. Spiraling outward from the center are dark dust lanes that are silhouetted against the arms. This galaxy has had a history of supernovae explosions within it, the most recent going off in 1999.
NGC 2841 contains only a few pinkish emission nebulae indicative of new star birth. It is likely that the radiation and supersonic winds from fiery, super-hot, young blue stars cleared out the remaining gas (which glows pink), and hence shut down further star formation in the regions in which they were born. The galaxy currently has a relatively low star formation rate compared to other spirals that are ablaze with emission nebulae.
Here are some facts about NGC 2841:
- It's more than 130,000 light-years across and has a diameter of over 150,000 light-years.
- It's located about 46 million light-years away from Earth.
- It's receding from Earth at about 638 kilometers per second.
- It was discovered by German-born astronomer William Herschel on March 9, 1788.
- X-ray images suggest that plumes of hot gas extend into a halo around NGC 2841.
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