The Hubble Space Telescope captured two colliding galaxies, known as Arp 107. (NASA)
Text/Reporter Chen Juncun
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captured images of two different types of galaxies colliding and merging.
NASA recently released this image. The object, named Arp 107, combines two colliding galaxies and is about 465 million light-years away from Earth.
NASA points out that the galaxy on the left side of the picture is larger. It is a galaxy with abundant energy and a bright core.
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captured images of two different types of galaxies colliding and merging.
NASA recently released images of the celestial body named Arp 107. Arp 107 combines two colliding galaxies about 465 million light-years away from Earth.
NASA points out that the galaxy on the left side of the picture is larger. It is a type of energetic galaxy with a bright core called Seyfert galaxies. Although the core of such a galaxy is very bright, it does not obscure the details in the galaxy’s structure, and the radiation of the entire galaxy can be observed, including the spiral structure, star-forming regions and dust lanes.
The companion star on the right side of the picture is smaller. The two galaxies are connected by what appears to be a slender bridge of dust and gas.
American astronomer Halton Arp published the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies in 1966, which included 338 strange-shaped galaxies, most of which were galaxies that were interacting and merging, including Arp 107. There are also some strange galaxies with one or three spiral arms or shell-like structures.
The Hubble Space Telescope is observing Arp 107 under an observation program. This observing project selects galaxies from the Special Galaxy Atlas for observation, in part to provide images of these galaxies to the public.
In addition to two galaxies colliding with each other, the Hubble Space Telescope has also captured images of three galaxies interacting.
NASA will release images of Arp 248 in 2022. Arp 248 consists of three spiral galaxies, also known as the Wild’s Triplet. These galaxies are located in the constellation Virgo, about 200 million light-years away from Earth.
Arp 248 consists of three spiral galaxies, also known as the Wilder Triple Galaxy. (NASA)
Visible in this image are Arp 248’s two large spiral galaxies, located at the upper left and lower right of the image. There appears to be a glowing bridge connecting the two galaxies. This structure, known as a tidal tail, consists of extended streams of stars and interstellar gas, formed by the gravitational pull between the two galaxies.
The two galaxies are almost face-on to Earth, and there is a small orange spiral galaxy in the background between them, which we can see sideways.
The Hubble Space Telescope searches for strange galaxies to create images for itself and James. Telescopes such as the James Webb Space Telescope and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array are looking for future observation targets, and pictures of these strange galaxies can also arouse the interest of the public. . ◇
