KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- Spiral Galaxy Illusion: Hubble captures a stunning image where smaller spiral galaxies appear to cascade out of a larger galaxy, creating a captivating visual illusion.
- Arp-Madore 2105-332 Interaction: The prominent galaxies, part of the Arp-Madore 2105-332 system, are located 200 million light-years away, forming an interacting galaxy duo.
- Background Galaxies Coincidence: The ‘falling line’ of smaller galaxies, although not associated with Arp-Madore 2105-332, coincidentally aligns to create the illusion of pouring out from the larger galaxy.
- Emission-Line Galaxies: Both major galaxies in the image, 2MASX J21080752-3314337 and 2MASX J21080362-3313196, exhibit emission lines, indicating high energy, intense star formation, and potential insights into their compositions.
- Spectrum Analysis Importance: Astronomers use spectrometers to analyze emission and absorption lines in a galaxy’s spectrum, revealing details such as composition, star formation rate, and the presence of a central black hole.
- 2MASX Galaxy Coordinates: Despite their complex names, 2MASX J21080752-3314337 and 2MASX J21080362-3313196 serve as crucial coordinates for astronomers, aiding in locating these celestial objects using the right ascension and declination system.
The Hubble Space Telescope has captured a fascinating image that seems to show smaller spiral galaxies cascading out of a larger, brighter galaxy. This spectacle is part of the Arp-Madore catalogue, a collection of peculiar galaxies.
Hubble’s Captivating Snapshot of Arp-Madore Unveils Cosmic Coincidence
Situated about 200 million light-years away, the prominent duo of bright galaxies forms an interacting system known as Arp-Madore 2105-332. Despite appearances, the smaller galaxies forming the ‘falling line’ are not actually linked to Arp-Madore 2105-332; they are positioned farther away. The Hubble telescope happened to catch this incredible coincidence, making it look like the background galaxies are pouring out of the larger galaxy on the left.
The image offers a detailed and clear view of all the galaxies, thanks to the high-quality instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope.
Arp-Madore 2105-332’s two big and bright galaxies are emission-line galaxies, meaning their spectra exhibit bright peaks known as emission lines when observed with spectrometers. Astronomers use these emission lines to gather information about a galaxy, such as its type, composition, the density and temperature of emitting gas, the rate of star formation, and the size of the central black hole.
Analyzing the spectrum of a galaxy helps astronomers understand its characteristics. If a galaxy shows many emission lines and few absorption lines, it suggests it’s brimming with star formation and energetic newborn stars. On the other hand, a spectrum with numerous absorption lines and few emission lines indicates that the star-forming material has depleted, and the stars are predominantly old. In this case, the two emission-line galaxies are highly energetic and are active regions of star formation.
The large galaxy on the left goes by the name 2MASX J21080752-3314337, while the one on the right is called 2MASX J21080362-3313196. Although these names may not be easy to remember, astronomers use them as coordinates in the right ascension and declination system, a widely-used method to locate astronomical objects.
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Source(s): Universe Today
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