From planet
Earth, we see this strongly distorted pair of galaxies,
cataloged as Arp 81, as they
were only about 100 million years after their close encounter. The havoc wreaked by their
mutual gravitational interaction during the encounter is detailed in this color
composite image showing twisted streams of gas and dust, a chaos of massive star formation, and a tidal
tail stretching for 200 thousand light-years or so as it sweeps behind the
cosmic wreckage. Also known as NGC 6622 (left) and
NGC 6621, the galaxies are roughly equal in size but are destined to merge into one large galaxy in the distant
future, making repeated approaches until they finally coalesce. Located
in the constellation Draco, the galaxies are
280 million light-years
away. Even more distant background galaxies can be spotted in this sharp,
reprocessed, image from Hubble Legacy Archive data.
April 23, 2014
Arp 81
From planet
Earth, we see this strongly distorted pair of galaxies,
cataloged as Arp 81, as they
were only about 100 million years after their close encounter. The havoc wreaked by their
mutual gravitational interaction during the encounter is detailed in this color
composite image showing twisted streams of gas and dust, a chaos of massive star formation, and a tidal
tail stretching for 200 thousand light-years or so as it sweeps behind the
cosmic wreckage. Also known as NGC 6622 (left) and
NGC 6621, the galaxies are roughly equal in size but are destined to merge into one large galaxy in the distant
future, making repeated approaches until they finally coalesce. Located
in the constellation Draco, the galaxies are
280 million light-years
away. Even more distant background galaxies can be spotted in this sharp,
reprocessed, image from Hubble Legacy Archive data.
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