This galaxy has an apparent diameter of 1.1' of the Earth's sky.[3] It holds approximately 15 trillion stars.[citation needed] NGC 262 was tidally disturbed by the gravitational forces of smaller galaxies, which resulted in its large size.[3]
NGC 262 is very unusual, since it is 10 times larger than a regular spiral galaxy of its type.[2]
According to Morris and Wannier, NGC 262 is surrounded by a huge cloud of neutral hydrogen[2] that is probably caused by the tidal stripping of smaller galaxies. The cloud has an apparent mass of approximately 50 billion solar masses[2] at a distance of 88 kiloparsecs (287,000 light-years)[2] from the nucleus of NGC 262 and extending up to 300 kiloparsecs (1 million light-years) away.[2] The cloud is spiral-shaped with at least one arm, and possibly another one extending throughout the galaxy.
Media related to NGC 262 at Wikimedia Commons
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