Stephan s Quintet
Explanation:
The first identified compact galaxy group,
Stephan's Quintet
is featured in
this eye-catching image
constructed with data drawn from
the extensive
Hubble Legacy Archive.
About 300 million light-years away, only four of these five galaxies
are actually locked in a cosmic dance
of repeated close encounters.
The odd man out is easy to spot, though.
The interacting galaxies,
NGC
7319, 7318A, 7318B, and 7317
have an overall yellowish cast.
They also tend to have distorted
loops and tails, grown under the
influence of disruptive
gravitational tides.
But the predominantly bluish galaxy, NGC 7320,
is closer, just 40 million light-years distant,
and isn't part of the interacting group.
Stephan's Quintet lies within the boundaries of the high flying
constellation Pegasus.
At the estimated distance of the quartet of interacting galaxies,
this field of view spans about 500,000 light-years.
But moving just beyond this field, up and to the right,
astronomers can identify another galaxy,
NGC
7320C, that is also 300 million
light-years distant.
Including it would bring the
interacting quartet
back up to quintet status.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
