NASAThe Hubble Space Telescope has captured a stunning image of a “space triangle” where two galaxies collide, leading to a tsunami since the birth of a star.
The duo is commonly known as Arp 143, made up of the bright, distorted star-forming galaxy NGC 2445 and the less screaming NGC 24444.
NGC 2445 is distorted to look triangular, with a wave of bright light as the stars form at a rapid rate from the material shaken by the collision.
U.S.-based astronomers at the Flatiron Center for Computational Astrophysics in New York and the University of Washington in Seattle are analyzing images from the 32-year-old low-orbit observatory.
They explained that the galaxies passed through each other, igniting a uniquely shaped fiery storm to form stars, where thousands of stars explode in life.
The galaxy is flooded with stellar birth because it is rich in gas, the fuel that makes the stars, but has not yet escaped the gravitational pull of partner NGC 2444, which makes them start space tug of war, which seems NGC 2444 profitable.
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captures a stunning image of a “space triangle” where two galaxies collide, leading to a star-born tsunami
The Dancing Galaxies were discovered in a catalog compiled by astronomer Halton Arp in 1966, comprising 338 strange interacting galaxies.
He believed that these special galaxies were excellent laboratories for studying the physical processes that distorted normal-looking elliptical and spiral galaxies.
He was one of the first to suggest that galactic encounters could form stars in bursts.
One such Arp galaxy that explodes with new stars is Arp 143, captured in these new images by the Hubble Space Telescope.
“Simulations show that head-on collisions between two galaxies are one way to create rings of new stars,” said leading astronomer Julian Dalcanton.
“Therefore, star rings are not uncommon. The strange thing about this system, however, is that it is a triangle of star formation.
“Part of the reason for this shape is that these galaxies are still so close to each other, and NGC 2444 is still gravitating to the other galaxy.
“NGC 2444 may also have an invisible, hot halo of gas that could help pull NGC 2445’s gas away from its core. So they are not yet completely free of each other and their unusual interaction distorts the ring in this triangle.
NGC 2445 is distorted to look triangular, with a wave of bright light as the stars form at a rapid rate from the material shaken by the collision. A wide view of the Arp 143 area was found
The dimer of the two galaxies is also responsible for pulling “playful gas filaments” from its partner, lining up streamers of young blue stars that appear to form a bridge between the two galaxies.
These bands were among the first in what appears to be a wave of star formation that began on the outskirts of NGC 2445 and continued inward when the two collided.
The team behind the study estimates that streamers were born 50 and 100 million years ago and were abandoned in the triangle area as NGC 2445 continues to move slowly away from NGC 2444.
According to the team, stars no older than one million to two million years are forming closer to the center of NGC 2445.
Hubble is so sharp that it is able to separate some individual stars in the image, although most of the brilliant blue lumps are groups of stars. The pink spots are giant young star clusters, still shrouded in dust and gas.
Although most of the action takes place in NGC 2445, this does not mean that the other half of the interacting couple escaped unscathed. Gravity has stretched NGC 2444 into a strange shape.
The galaxy contains old stars and there is no new birth because it lost its gas long before this galactic encounter.
“This is a close example of the types of interactions that have taken place long ago. It’s a fantastic sandbox for understanding star formation and interacting galaxies, “said Elena Sabi of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland.
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope is still in operation and has made more than 1.5 million observations since its mission began in 1990.
The Hubble Space Telescope was launched on April 24, 1990, by the Discovery space shuttle from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
It is named after the famous astronomer Edwin Hubble, who was born in Missouri in 1889.
He is perhaps best known for discovering that the universe is expanding and the speed at which it is expanding – he has now invented the Hubble constant.
The Hubble Space Telescope is named after the famous astronomer Edwin Hubble, who was born in Missouri in 1889 (pictured).
Hubble has made more than 1.5 million observations since its inception in 1990 and has helped publish about 18,000 scientific papers.
It orbits the Earth at a speed of about 17,000 miles per hour (27,300 km / h) in low Earth orbit at an altitude of about 340 miles.
Hubble has a targeting accuracy of 0.007 arcseconds, which is like being able to shine a laser beam focused on the head of Franklin D. Roosevelt at a penny about 200 miles (320 km) away.
The Hubble Space Telescope is named after Edwin Hubble, who was responsible for creating the Hubble Constant and is one of the greatest astronomers of all time.
Hubble’s main mirror is 2.4 meters in diameter (7 feet, 10.5 inches) and a total of 13.3 meters (43.5 feet) – the length of a large school bus.
The launch and deployment of Hubble in April 1990 marked the most significant advance in astronomy since the Galileo Telescope.
Thanks to five service missions and more than 25 years of work, our view of the universe and our place in it has never been the same.