Astronomy - February 2014

74 ASTRONOMY t FEBRUARY 2014

Multiple shells of gaseous material

form a cocoon around galaxy PGC

6240 in the southern constellation

Hydra. Distant galaxies litter the

background in this new Hubble

Space Telescope image. The object

holds interest for astronomers not

only because of its peculiar structure,

but also due to a cloud of numerous

globular star clusters orbiting it.

Unlike most globular clusters,

which contain old stars, PGC 6240

has clusters of varied ages. Astrono-

mers believe the unusual shelled

structure of PGC 6240 resulted from

two galaxies that merged, igniting

a recent burst of star formation in

the clusters.

A shelled

galaxy and

its clusters

FINALFRONTIER To the ends of the cosmos

ESA/HUBBLE/NASA