NGC 2559 is a barred spiral galaxy 85 million light years away in the constellation of Puppis.
There are very few images of this galaxy.
It is an interesting example of how far astronomy and imaging technology has progressed.
In the 1980’s it was thought that this was a pair of colliding galaxies as no nucleus was apparent.
The bar and small nucleus region are obvious in this image as are the two spiral arms and several H alpha regions and star forming regions.
Likely affected by the dwarf companion galaxy, there are obvious distortions within the structure of NGC 2559.
The galaxy is set behind a dense field of stars within our own galaxies with a number of distant galaxies in the background.
Just imagine what we might be able to see in another forty years as technology marches on.
Imaged in LRGB on my Planewave CDK 1000 at Observatorio El Sauce, Chile.
Image acquisition and processing: Mike Selby