Astral Jellyfish Original Painting

6x6" watercolor on 100% cotton paper. A pearlescent watercolor painting on black of the jellyfish galaxy JW39 as seen by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The galaxy core is seen in golds and whites, with fainter arms punctuated by clusters of blue and pink, aglow with forming stars. This galaxy lies over 900 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices and is part of a galaxy cluster. The intense gravitational pull of its larger neighboring galaxies distorts its shape, and as it drifts through the cluster, hot plasma between galaxies has stripped star-forming gases into long tendrils and ribbons, resembling jellyfish. Painted in October 2023.

Painted as part of #Spacetober 2023 on Instagram for the 10/2 Galaxy prompt.