Dusty Hand Galaxy

About This Image

NGC 2146 (also known as the Dusty Hand Galaxy) is a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Camelopardalis. The galaxy was discovered in 1876 by Friedrich August Theodor Winnecke. NGC 2146 has a diameter of 38.3 k 125,000 light-years, slightly larger than the Milky Way. The galaxy's most conspicuous feature is the dusty lanes of a spiral arm lying across the core of the galaxy as seen from Earth, the arm having been bent 45 degrees by a close encounter with a smaller galaxy, possibly NGC 2146A, about 0.8 billion years ago. This close encounter is credited with the relatively high rates of star formation that qualify NGC 2146 as a starburst galaxy.