Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Canis Major (CMa)  ·  Contains:  NGC 2217
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NGC 2217, Gary Imm
NGC 2217, Gary Imm

NGC 2217

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NGC 2217, Gary Imm
NGC 2217, Gary Imm

NGC 2217

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Description

This object is a nearly face-on lenticular ring galaxy located 80 million light years away in the constellation of Canis Major at a declination of -27 degrees. This 11.9 magnitude galaxy spans 4.5 arc-minutes in our apparent view, which corresponds to a diameter of 105,000 light years. This galaxy is classified as a lenticular galaxy because of the lack of spiral arm structure in the central galaxy region.

This galaxy has a fascinating structure with many different features - a bright core, a tight bright ring around the core, an ansae bar (bar with "handles" or bright enhancements at each end), and a faint wider ring (including a star stream on the left side). Scientists believe that ring structures typically result from a collision of a compact galaxy with a larger spiral galaxy.

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