Overview

• New imagery shows a smooth, gas-poor central region resembling an elliptical galaxy and a dusty, patchy outer ring characteristic of a spiral.
• NASA says most astronomers would label NGC 2775 a flocculent spiral, though some researchers prefer a lenticular or hybrid classification.
• The update incorporates narrowband red H-alpha observations that trace ionized hydrogen around massive young stars and refine views of star-forming regions.
• Independent evidence points to a faint hydrogen tail nearly 100,000 light-years long, consistent with past interactions or mergers that could explain its distorted look.
• Located about 67 million light-years away in Cancer, the galaxy’s single viewing angle limits a definitive classification, and further PHANGS-HST analysis is ongoing.