Hubble captures the space triangle

The new Hubble image shows a frenzy of unusual star birth in the shape of a triangle triggered by a spectacular head-on collision between two galaxies. The colliding binary galaxy is Arp 143, which contains two interacting galaxies: spiral galaxy NGC 2445 on the right and NGC 2444 on the left.

NGC 2445 is a star-forming spiral galaxy, where the lives of thousands of stars explode. Enriched with gas and fuel star formation. However, it has yet to escape the gravitational grip of its partner, NGC 2444.

The pair appears to be involved in a cosmic tug-of-war, which NGC 2444 appears to have won. At the same time, the galaxy NGC 2444 is pulling gas from NGC 2445, forming an eccentric triangle of new stars. It is also responsible for picking up the tahini-like filament of gas from NGC 2445, churning out streaks of light blue stars that appear to form the scaffold between the two galaxies.

This stream appears to be a wave of star formation that begins at the periphery of NGC 2445 and continues inland. Ribbons formed between 50 million and 100 million years ago. However, these stars have been lagging behind as NGC 2445 continues to slowly drift away from NGC 2444.

Astronomer Julian Dalcanton of the Center for Computational Astrophysics at the Flatiron Institute in New York He saidAnd Simulations show that a direct collision between two galaxies is one way to form a new ring of stars. Therefore, star formation rings are not uncommon. However, the strange thing about this system is that it is a star formation triangle. Part of the reason for this shape is that these galaxies are still very close to each other, and NGC 2444 is still holding on to other galaxies by the force of gravity. NGC 2444 may also contain invisible heat aura gas They can help pull NGC 2445 gas from its core. So they haven’t completely emptied each other, and their unusual interactions change the ring in this triangle.”

Near the center of NGC 2445, the stars are no more than 1-2 million years old. Hubble I took a few individual stars, which were much brighter and more massive. The blue cluster seen in the image is a star cluster, while the pink dot indicates the presence of a young giant star cluster that is still covered in dust and gas.

The gravitational clash of NGC 2445 is responsible for the strange shape of NGC 2444 galaxy It contains old stars and not the birth of new stars because it lost its gas long ago, long before the gathering of these galaxies.

kata Elena Sabi dari Space Telescope Science Institute di Baltimore, Maryland, “This is a close example of the kind of interaction that happened in the past. It’s a great sandbox for understanding star formation and galaxy interactions.”

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