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Hubble sees the graceful dance of 2 interacting galaxies
October 31, 2007A pair of galaxies, known collectively as Arp 87, is one of hundreds of interacting and merging galaxies known in our nearby Universe. Arp 87 was originally discovered and catalogued by astronomer Halton Arp in the 1970s. Arp's Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies is a compilation of astronomical photographs using the Palomar 200-inch Hale and the 48-inch Samuel Oschin telescopes.
The resolution in the Hubble image shows exquisite detail and fine structure that was not observable when Arp 87 was first discovered in the 1970's.
The two main players comprising Arp 87 are NGC 3808 on the right (the larger of the two galaxies) and its companion NGC 3808A on the left. NGC 3808 is a nearly face-on spiral galaxy with a bright ring of star formation and several prominent dust arms. Stars, gas, and dust flow from NGC 3808, forming an enveloping arm around its companion. NGC 3808A is a spiral galaxy seen edge-on and is surrounded by a rotating ring that contains stars and interstellar gas clouds. The ring is situated perpendicular to the plane of the host galaxy disk and is called a "polar ring."
As seen in other mergers similar to Arp 87, the corkscrew shape of the tidal material or bridge of shared matter between the two galaxies suggests that some stars and gas drawn from the larger galaxy have been caught in the gravitational pull of the smaller one.
The shapes of both galaxies have been distorted by their gravitational interaction with one another.
Interacting galaxies often exhibit high rates of star formation. Many lines of evidence - colours of their starlight, intensity of emission lines from interstellar gas, far-infrared output from heated interstellar dust - support this fact. Some merging galaxies have the highest levels of star formation we can find anywhere in the nearby Universe.
A major aspect of this excess star formation could be properly revealed only when Hubble turned its imaging capabilities toward colliding galaxies. Among the observatory's first discoveries was that galaxies with very active star formation contain large numbers of super star clusters - clusters more compact and richer in young stars than astronomers were accustomed to seeing in our galactic neighbourhood.
Arp 87 is in the constellation Leo, the Lion, approximately 300 million light-years away from Earth. These observations were taken in February 2007 with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2. Light from isolated blue, green, red, and infrared ranges was combined to form this colour image.
ESA/Hubble Information Centre
As seen in other mergers similar to Arp 87, the corkscrew shape of the tidal material or bridge of shared matter between the two galaxies suggests that some stars and gas drawn from the larger galaxy have been caught in the gravitational pull of the smaller one.
The shapes of both galaxies have been distorted by their gravitational interaction with one another.
Interacting galaxies often exhibit high rates of star formation. Many lines of evidence - colours of their starlight, intensity of emission lines from interstellar gas, far-infrared output from heated interstellar dust - support this fact. Some merging galaxies have the highest levels of star formation we can find anywhere in the nearby Universe.
A major aspect of this excess star formation could be properly revealed only when Hubble turned its imaging capabilities toward colliding galaxies. Among the observatory's first discoveries was that galaxies with very active star formation contain large numbers of super star clusters - clusters more compact and richer in young stars than astronomers were accustomed to seeing in our galactic neighbourhood.
Arp 87 is in the constellation Leo, the Lion, approximately 300 million light-years away from Earth. These observations were taken in February 2007 with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2. Light from isolated blue, green, red, and infrared ranges was combined to form this colour image.
ESA/Hubble Information Centre
Star Formation News and Current Star Formation Events RSSStudy shows clumps and streams of dark matter in inner regions of the Milky Way
Using one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world to simulate the halo of dark matter that envelopes our galaxy, researchers found dense clumps and streams of the mysterious stuff lurking in the inner regions of the halo, in the same neighborhood as our solar system.
Caltech astronomers describe the bar scene at the beginning of the universe
Bars abound in spiral galaxies today, but this was not always the case. A group of 16 astronomers, led by Kartik Sheth of NASA's Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology, has found that bars tripled in number over the past seven billion years, indicating that spiral galaxies evolve in shape.
Newly Born Twin Stars Are Far From Identical
Two stars, each with the same mass and in orbit around each other, are twins that one would expect to be identical. So astronomers were surprised when they discovered that twin stars in the Orion Nebula, a well-known stellar nursery 1,500 light years away, were not identical at all.
Hubble's sweeping view of the Coma Galaxy Cluster
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope captures the magnificent starry population of the Coma Cluster of Galaxies, one of the densest known galaxy collections in the Universe.
Galaxies gone wild!
Interacting galaxies are found throughout the Universe, sometimes as dramatic collisions that trigger bursts of star formation, on other occasions as stealthy mergers that result in new galaxies.
Cosmic engines surprise XMM-Newton
XMM-Newton has been surprised by a rare type of galaxy, from which it has detected a higher number of X-rays than thought possible. The observation gives new insight into the powerful processes shaping galaxies during their formation and evolution.
The violent lives of galaxies: Caught in the cosmic matter web
Astronomers are using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to dissect one of the largest structures in the Universe as part of a quest to understand the violent lives of galaxies. Hubble is providing indirect evidence of unseen dark matter tugging on galaxies in the crowded, rough-and-tumble environment of a massive supercluster of hundreds of galaxies.
The secret life of galaxies
Looking up at the night sky you could be forgiven for believing that the sedate progress of the stars across the firmament belies the serene nature of galaxies. But a closer look at our celestial neighbours reveals that the reality is very different.
Rutgers, Penn State Astronomy Teams Discover Ancestors of Milky Way-Type Galaxies
Astronomers at Rutgers and Penn State universities have discovered galaxies in the distant universe that are ancestors of spiral galaxies like our Milky Way.
Youngest solar systems detected by U-M astronomers
Astronomers at the University of Michigan have found what are believed to be some of the youngest solar systems yet detected.
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