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Credit & Copyright: NASA,
ESA, Hubble;
Processing & Copyright:
William Ostling
(The Astronomy Enthusiast)
Explanation:
Is this one galaxy or two?
The jumble of stars, gas, and
dust that is
NGC 520 is now thought
to incorporate the remains of two separate disk galaxies.
A defining component of
NGC 520 --
as seen in great detail in the
featured image from the
Hubble Space Telescope -- is its
band of intricately interlaced dust
running vertically down the spine of the
colliding galaxies.
A similar looking collision might be expected in a few billion
years when our disk
Milky Way Galaxy to
collides with our large-disk galactic neighbor
Andromeda (M31).
The collision that defines
NGC 520
started about 300 million years ago.
Also known as Arp 157, NGC 520 lies about 100 million light years
distant, spans about 100 thousand
light years,
and can be seen with a small telescope toward the
constellation of the Fish
(Pisces).
Although the speeds of stars in
NGC 520 are fast, the distances are
so vast that the
battling pair
will surely not change its shape noticeably during our lifetimes.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: colliding galaxies
Publications with words: colliding galaxies
See also:
- APOD: 2024 July 30 Á Arp 142: Interacting Galaxies from Webb
- APOD: 2023 September 25 Á Arp 142: The Hummingbird Galaxy
- APOD: 2023 January 23 Á The Colliding Spiral Galaxies of Arp 274
- Galaxy Wars: M81 and M82
- NGC 1316: After Galaxies Collide
- NGC 4676: When Mice Collide
- Central NGC 1316: After Galaxies Collide