The galaxy NGC 7292, located about 44 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Pegasus, ripples through a new image from the Hubble Space Telescope. It can be seen accompanied by a handful of bright stars and faint streaks of extremely distant galaxies in the background.

This galaxy is irregularmeaning it lacks the obvious spiral arms or elliptical shape of some galaxies.

Unusually, the core is stretched into a distinct bar, a feature seen in many spiral galaxies. Besides its vague shape, NGC 7292 is remarkably faint.

As a result, astronomers classify NGC 7292 as a galaxy of low surface brightness, barely distinguishable against the background of the night sky. Such galaxies are typically dominated by gas and dark matter rather than stars, NASA reports.

Astronomers instructed Hubble to inspect NGC 7292 during an observing campaign looking at the aftermath of Type II supernovae to learn more about their diversity. These colossal explosions occur when a massive star collapses and then violently rebounds in a catastrophic, star-shattering explosion.

Astronomers observed the supernova of NGC 7292 in 1964 and named it SN 1964H. Studying the stellar environment of SN 1964H helps astronomers estimate the initial mass of the star that went supernova. The observations could help discover surviving stellar companions that once shared a system with the star that became SN 1964H.