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Credit & Copyright: Peter Kennett
Explanation:
Scanning the skies for galaxies, Canadian astronomer
Paul Hickson and colleagues identified some 100 compact
groups
of galaxies,
now appropriately called
Hickson Compact
Groups.
The four prominent galaxies seen in this intriguing
telescopic skyscape
are one such group, Hickson 44.
The Hickson 44 galaxy group is about 100 million light-years distant,
far beyond the foreground Milky Way stars,
toward the northern springtime constellation Leo.
The two spiral galaxies
in the center of the image are edge-on NGC 3190 with distinctive,
warped dust lanes, and S-shaped NGC 3187.
Along with the bright elliptical, NGC 3193 (left)
they are also known as Arp 316.
The spiral toward the lower right corner is NGC 3185,
the 4th member of the Hickson group.
Like other galaxies in
Hickson groups,
these show signs of distortion and
enhanced star formation,
evidence of a gravitational tug of war that will eventually result in
galaxy mergers on a cosmic timescale.
The merger process is
now understood to be a normal part of the evolution of
galaxies, including our own Milky Way.
For scale, NGC 3190
is about 75,000 light-years across at the estimated
distance of Hickson 44.
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Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Hickson - group of galaxies
Publications with words: Hickson - group of galaxies
See also: