Caption: Irregular galaxy NGC 1427A in constellation Eridanus. NGC 1427A is in the Fornax Cluster which lies primarily in constellation Fornax.
Features:
The current star formation is evidenced by opaque brown (sort of obvious) caused dense concentrations interstellar dust.
The interstellar dust permits the existence of the molecules which cools the interstellar medium (ISM) gas by radiating away heat energy as electromagnetic radiation (EMR) (principally in the infrared and radio) which lowers the gas pressure which allows runaway gravitational collapses which fragment into newly forming stars. The EMR output of the new stars is dominated by hot blue OB stars which provide ultraviolet light which ionizes the atomic hydrogen gas to create H II regions (dominated by ionized atomic hydrogen gas) which emit strongly the red Hα of hydrogen (following recombination to neutral atomic hydrogen gas) which gives the H II regions their pink glow.
The upshot of the foregoing is that NGC 1427A has a complex and pretty mixture of colors: brown, blue, pink.
Galaxy clusters,
like the Fornax Cluster,
contain hundreds or even thousands of individual
galaxies.
Within the Fornax Cluster,
there is a considerable amount of gas
(probably close to
primordial cosmic composition)
lying between the galaxies.
When the gas within
NGC 1427A collides with the
Fornax Cluster
gas, it is compressed to the point that
it starts to collapse under its own
self-gravity.
This leads to star formation
(as shown by the colors
brown,
blue, and
pink)
The compression gives NGC 1427A
an overall arrowhead shape
that appears to point in the direction of the
galaxy's
high-velocity motion (which yours truly thinks is upward in the image).
The tidal forces
of nearby galaxies in the
Fornax Cluster
may also play a role in triggering
star formation on such a massive scale."
(Heavily edited.)