'Starstruck Image' of Irregular Galaxy Arp 263 in Leo | Hubble Space Telescope

'Starstruck Image' of Irregular Galaxy Arp 263 in Leo | Hubble Space Telescope

This image shows the Hubble Space Telescope’s visible-light view of Arp 263, around 25 million light-years away. Here, “irregular clumps” in the galaxy are revealed to be bright nebulae between its dense clouds of gas, where stars are forming. Milky Way star BD+17 2217 appears in the foreground as a stellar photobomber.

The black region visible in the corners appears because this image was cropped and rotated to align with Webb’s image of the galaxy.

Image Description: An irregular galaxy that appears like a triangle-shaped patch of tiny stars. It is densest in the centre and along one edge, growing faint out to the opposite corner. Several bright pink patches mark areas of star formation, and the galaxy’s brightest stars are around these. A large, bright star, with two sets of long spikes, stands between the viewer and the galaxy.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. Dalcanton, A. Filippenko
Release Date: Aug. 27, 2026

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