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Credit & Copyright: NASA,
ESA,
Hubble Heritage
(STScI /
AURA) -
ESA/Hubble Collaboration,
K. Noll (STScI)
Explanation:
Linking spiral arms, two large colliding galaxies are
featured in this Hubble Space Telescope
view, part of a series of cosmic snapshots released
to celebrate
the Hubble's 18th anniversary.
Recorded in astronomer Halton Arp's Atlas of
Peculiar Galaxies as Arp 272, the
pair is otherwise known as
NGC 6050 and IC 1179.
They lie some 450 million light-years away in the
Hercules Galaxy Cluster.
At that estimated distance, the picture spans over 150 thousand
light-years.
Although this
scenario
does look peculiar,
galaxy collisions
and their eventual mergers are now understood to be common,
with Arp 272 representing a stage in this inevitable process.
In fact, the nearby large spiral
Andromeda Galaxy is known
to be approaching our own galaxy and Arp 272 may offer a glimpse of
the far future collision between
Andromeda and
the Milky Way.
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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
- NGC 520: Colliding Galaxies from Hubble