#galaxy interaction

[zespaceblog]

The Polar Ring Galaxy NGC660

Not all Spiral Galaxies are the same, and while many follow a particular morphology, NGC 660 has a ring that goes over and under the spiral plane.

So how did this galaxy get a ring in such a strange place ? While nobody can say for sure, there is one obvious way, and it's the usual suspect when a galaxy strays from it's more predictable morphology, that of a galaxy interaction.

Most likely, at some point in the last billion years or so, either a larger galaxy pulled it's ring away but moved off too fast to obtain it, or another spiral galaxy came in at the particular angle and this galaxy tore an arm off, making it a new appendage.

The galaxy certainly has a fair amount of dust and gas and seems quite well populated by young hot clusters of stars, a tell tale sign of some form of previous interaction, pulling in dust and gas that fires star formation for billions of years later.

[mystarypi-astronomy]

This is the Antennae Galaxies! 🐛🐜🐛🐜🐛🐜

The galaxy shown here is actually in the process of merging! A few million years ago, these galaxies began interacting and formed young clusters each with thousands of new stars. Its name comes from the formation of “tidal tails” that resemble antennae during the collision! 🌌🌌🌌

Taken by me (Michelle Park) using the Slooh Canary Two telescope on March 21st, 2021 at 22:08 UTC. 

[xo-cuteplosion-xo]

This made me think of this picture

Idk why XD

[zespaceblog]

NGC 247

The spiral galaxy NGC 247 may not look particularly spiral, but it's a 75,000 light year across galaxy not too dissimilar to our Milky Way, the difference being from Earth, it appears near side-on, hiding the arms and features we associate with a spiral.

One interesting aside is the Burbidge's Chain, 4 galaxies lined up, and with the left two appearing to show some kind of star connection between them.

NGC 247 is 11 million light years from Earth in the constellation of Cetus, while the 4 in the chain, are much further back, around 300 million light years from Earth.

[zespaceblog]

LEDA 857074

When it comes to galaxies, I'll hazard a guess LEDA 857074 wasn't one of them, and that's not too unsurprising, the universe is full of countless galaxies, we simply can't know them all, however this odd fellow has fewer than 5 academic papers written referencing it (one of which is just a catalogue referencing it's location), and until Hubble took this image, little or nothing much was known about it at all.

That was until a chance supernova explosion in 2022 captured by automated monitoring, drew some interest and Hubble time.

While the image isn't the sharpest, it does appear to have distorted spiral arms, most likely an interaction with another galaxy not so long in the past.

[zespaceblog]

Messier 96 - Double Barred Spiral Galaxy

M96 is the primary member of the M96 group, and similar in many ways to M95, although sporting a double bulge, a central one (the bright central region) and an outer one, the area to the first almost ring like arm. It has the appearance as having had it's arms pulled away and now snapped back, particularly as the core is now off centre, it would suggest a near miss at some point recent in its history.

As featured yesterday, M95 may be the culprit as both galaxies have similar disruption patterns.

The edge on spiral sitting above the galaxy in this image also adds to image, although it is thought to be 150 million more light years beyond it.

[zespaceblog]

NGC 2442 - The Cobra Galaxy

This interesting galaxy is actually categorized as two, NGC 2442 and 3, although it's actually one galaxy. The confusion came from it being assumed the top and bottom were somehow separated, but closer observation changed that, but the catalogue references remained.

The galaxy is around 50 Million light years from Earth in the constellation of Volans, making this image about 75,000 light years across, a little smaller than our galaxy, but it's S type shape betrays some recently interactions with other galaxies.

Although on Stellarium you can just about see it (I've added a small white arrow to where it is located), it's actually a Mag 11.2 object, far beyond human eye's and needing a fairly decent telescope to locate. The constellation of Volans is only visible from the Southern Hemisphere, so those in the North will have to make to with Hubble's beautiful image instead.

[zespaceblog]

NGC 1398

Some galaxies create amazing ring like structures, usually caused by resonance or gravitational shock after past interactions.

These waves cause huge amounts of star formation, but they also quench the inner sections of gas and dust. Along the shock wave where that dust and gas is being pushed outwards, you can see it interacts with the gas and dust already there and the density spawns star formation, the blue/pink regions in the galaxy.