Q248762

NGC 1232, also known as the Eye of God Galaxy (not to be confused with the Helix Nebula, also known as Eye of God) is an intermediate spiral galaxy about 50 million light-years away in the constellation Eridanus. It was discovered by German-British astronomer William Herschel on 20 October 1784.

It is dominated by millions of bright stars and dark dust, in spiral arms rotating about the center. Open clusters containing bright blue stars are sprinkled along these spiral arms, with dark lanes of dense interstellar dust between. Less visible are dimmer stars and interstellar gas, comprising such a high mass that they dominate the dynamics of the inner galaxy. Not visible is matter of unknown form called dark matter, needed to explain the motions of the visible material in the outer galaxy. The galaxy is approximately 150,000 light-years across. The galaxy's spiral arms are not smooth and perturbed, leading to some suggesting a collision with a dwarf galaxy. However, some studies doubt this suggestion.