It is online at this URL . Stars in this image are more blurred, since combining the colors produces a halo effect around the stars. However, NGC 7479's nucleus appears much more active, McCarthy said. In addition, a long bar-shaped structure and spiral arms that are not symmetrical are visible in its central region. These unusual features are attributed to the fact that NGC 7479 is cannibalizing another galaxy in a merger that began 5 million years ago.
Infrared light is much redder than the red light visible to the human eye.
Observations in infrared light enable astronomers to penetrate the obscuring dust in the spiral arms to examine the full extent and structure of the galaxy. The new image is very sharp, 0.80 arcsec, or the angular size of a dime seen from three miles away. That's 75 times sharper than the resolution of the human eye. If humans had eyes as sharp, people could read newspapers a half-mile away. It can be used on several telescopes in the Tucson area.