Hubble's Interacting Galaxy Collection
Today, in celebration of the Hubble Space Telescope's
18th launch anniversary, 59 views of colliding galaxies
constitute the largest collection of Hubble images
ever released to the public. This new Hubble atlas
dramatically illustrates how galaxy collisions produce
a remarkable variety of intricate structures in
never-before-seen detail.
Astronomers observe only one out of a million galaxies
in the nearby universe in the act of colliding.
However, galaxy mergers were much more common long
ago when they were closer together, because the
expanding universe was smaller. Astronomers study
how gravity choreographs their motions in the game
of celestial bumper cars and try to observe them
in action.
For all their violence, galactic smash-ups take
place at a glacial rate by human standards - timescales
on the order of several hundred million years. The
images in the Hubble atlas capture snapshots of
the various merging galaxies at various stages in
their collision.
Most of the 59 new Hubble images are part of a
large investigation of luminous and ultra- luminous
infrared galaxies called the GOALS project (Great
Observatories All-sky LIRG Survey). This survey
combines observations from Hubble, NASA's Spitzer
Space Telescope, NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory,
and NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer. The majority
of the Hubble observations are led by Aaron S. Evans
of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville,
the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, and Stony
Brook University.
Credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble
Collaboration, and A. Evans (University of Virginia,
Charlottesville/NRAO/Stony Brook University)
Visit
the entire gallery of Hubble Interacting Galaxies
NGC 6050/IC 1179 (Arp 272)
[image at left, below] is a remarkable collision
between two spiral galaxies, NGC 6050 and
IC 1179, and is part of the Hercules Galaxy
Cluster, located in the constellation of Hercules.
The galaxy cluster is part of the Great Wall
of clusters and superclusters, the largest
known structure in the universe. The two spiral
galaxies are linked by their swirling arms.
Arp 272 is located some 450 million light-years
away from Earth and is the number 272 in Arp's
Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies.
Arp 148 [image at right] is
the staggering aftermath of an encounter between
two galaxies, resulting in a ring-shaped galaxy
and a long-tailed companion. The collision
between the two parent galaxies produced a
shockwave effect that first drew matter into
the center and then caused it to propagate
outwards in a ring. The elongated companion
perpendicular to the ring suggests that Arp
148 is a unique snapshot of an ongoing collision.
Infrared observations reveal a strong obscuration
region that appears as a dark dust lane across
the nucleus in optical light. Arp 148 is nicknamed
Mayall s object and is located in the constellation
of Ursa Major, the Great Bear, approximately
500 million light-years away. This interacting
pair of galaxies is included in Arp's catalog
of peculiar galaxies as number 148.
These images are part of a large
collection of 59 images of merging galaxies
taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and released
on the occasion of its 18th anniversary on
24th April 2008.
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