Description:
NGC 247 is a nearby spiral galaxy in the constellation Cetus, about 11 million light-years away. Part of the Sculptor Group, it is known for its elongated shape, active star-forming regions, and a large dark “void” where relatively few young stars are found.
The region is not completely empty: it contains an older, fainter stellar population, suggesting that star formation there largely stopped around a billion years ago. The origin of this unusual feature is still uncertain, although gravitational interactions with another galaxy have been proposed as one possible explanation. This striking gap has helped give NGC 247 the nickname “the Needle’s Eye Galaxy.”