The Hubble Space Telescope has just photographed two ‘dancing’ galaxies.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, WASHINGTON — The Hubble Space Telescope has just photographed two ‘dancing’ galaxies in incredible three-dimensional detail. These two galaxies are deep in the constellation Andromeda, about 320 million light-years away.
The two galaxies are the smaller polar ring galaxy IC 1559 (top) and the larger spiral galaxy NGC 169 (bottom). Collectively, they are known as Arp 282, as designated in Halton Arp’s Atlas of Strange Galaxies.
It’s not uncommon for galaxies to interact gravitationally.
“Astronomers now accept that an important aspect of how galaxies evolve is the way they interact with one another,” NASA officials wrote in a statement. SpaceSunday (13/3/2022).
“Galaxies can merge, collide, or pass over one another – each interaction significantly affects their shape and structure.”
However, it is difficult to photograph such interactions in a way that clearly shows their movement in three-dimensional space. In the case of Arp 282, Hubble is at the perfect angle to capture the strands of star, dust, and gas that are pulled by tidal forces from one system to another.
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