Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STSci/AURA) |
"Explanation: What's happening to this spiral galaxy? Just a few
hundred million years ago, NGC 2936, the upper of the two large galaxies shown, was
likely a normal spiral galaxy -- spinning, creating
stars -- and minding its own business. But then it got too close to the massive elliptical galaxy NGC 2937 below and took a
dive. Dubbed the Porpoise
Galaxy for its iconic shape, NGC 2936 is not only being deflected but also being
distorted by the close gravitational interaction. A
burst of young blue stars forms the nose of the porpoise toward the left of the
upper galaxy, while the center of the spiral appears as an eye. Alternatively,
the galaxy pair, together known as Arp 142, look to some
like a penguin
protecting an egg. Either way, intricate dark dust lanes and bright blue star
streams trail the troubled galaxy to the lower right. The above
recently-released image showing Arp 142 in
unprecedented detail was taken by the Hubble
Space Telescope last year. Arp 142 lies about 300
million light years away toward the constellation, coincidently, of the Water
Snake (Hydra).
In a billion years or so the two galaxies will likely merge into one larger
galaxy."
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