Under the influence of galactic tides, NGC 1427A is travelling into the center of the Fornax cluster with a velocity of approximately 600 km per second.

[5][6] The Hubble Space Telescope's Used Advanced Camera's for Surveys that were used to obtain images of NGC 1427A in visible (green), red, and infrared filters in January 2003.

Astronomers are using the data to investigate the star-formation patterns throughout the object, to verify a prediction that there should be a relation between the ages of stars and their positions within the galaxy.

[7] To the upper left of NGC 1427A is a background galaxy that happens to lie near Hubble's line of sight but is some 25 times further away, about 1.3 billion light-years away.

In contrast to the irregularly shaped NGC 1427A, the background galaxy is a magnificent spiral, somewhat similar to our own Milky Way.