Hubble spots galaxies in close encounter

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has produced this vivid image of a pair of interacting galaxies known as Arp 142. When two galaxies stray too close to each other they begin to interact, causing spectacular changes in both objects. In some cases the two can merge — but in others, they are ripped apart.

Just below the centre of this image is the blue, twisted form of galaxy NGC 2936, one of the two interacting galaxies that form Arp 142 in the constellation of Hydra. Nicknamed "the Penguin" or "the Porpoise" by amateur astronomers, NGC 2936 used to be a standard spiral galaxy before being torn apart by the gravity of its cosmic companion.
The remnants of its spiral structure can still be seen — the former galactic bulge now forms the "eye" of the penguin, around which it is still possible to see where the galaxy's pinwheeling arms once were. These disrupted arms now shape the cosmic bird's "body" as bright streaks of blue and red across the image. These streaks arch down towards NGC 2936's nearby companion, the elliptical galaxy NGC 2937, visible here as a bright white oval. The pair show an uncanny resemblance to a penguin safeguarding its egg.
The effects of gravitational interaction between galaxies can be devastating. The Arp 142 pair are close enough together to interact violently, exchanging matter and causing havoc.
In the upper part of the image are two bright stars, both of which lie in the foreground of the Arp 142 pair. One of these is surrounded by a trail of sparkling blue material, which is actually another galaxy. This galaxy is thought to be too far away to play a role in the interaction — the same is true of the galaxies peppered around the body of NGC 2936. In the background are the blue and red elongated shapes of many other galaxies, which lie at vast distances from us — but which can all be seen by the sharp eye of Hubble.
This pair of galaxies is named after the American astronomer Halton Arp, the creator of the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies, a catalogue of weirdly-shaped galaxies that was originally published in 1966. Arp compiled the catalogue in a bid to understand how galaxies evolved and changed shape over time, something he felt to be poorly understood. He chose his targets based on their strange appearances, but astronomers later realised that many of the objects in Arp's catalogue were in fact interacting and merging galaxies [1].
This image is a combination of visible and infrared light, created from data gathered by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Planetary Camera 3 (WFC3).

Notes

[1] The birth and evolution of various sets of merging galaxies was the subject of the book Cosmic Collisions – The Hubble Atlas of Merging Galaxies, produced by Springer and the European Southern Observatory. The book is illustrated with a range of stunning Hubble Space Telescope images.

More information

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)



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The area around merging galaxy duo Arp 142 (ground-based image)

This image from the Digitized Sky Survey shows the area around a pair of merging galaxies known as Arp 142 in the constellation of Hydra. This pair is made up of once-spiral galaxy NGC 2936, and elliptical galaxy NGC 2937.

Credit:

NASA, ESA, Digitized Sky Survey 2


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VIDEOS:

Hubblecast 67: Of galaxies and penguins — Arp 142

http://www.spacetelescope.org/videos/heic1311a/

This episode of the Hubblecast explores the violent world of galactic mergers, as shown by the cosmic duo Arp 142 in a stunning new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

Galaxies spend most of their life drifting through the cosmic expanse in isolation. But, every so often, two unfortunate galaxies stray a little too close to one another — as is the case with Arp 142. Showcased in a stunning new image from Hubble, these two galaxies uncannily resemble a penguin guarding its egg. The galaxies are in middle of a violent merger, with clouds of gas and dust colliding at breakneck speeds and triggering bursts of star formation.

Credit:

ESA/Hubble
Directed by: Nicola Guttridge
Visual design and editing: Martin Kornmesser
Written by: Nicola Guttridge
Narration: Joe Liske (Dr J)
Images: ESA/Hubble, NASA,and G. Bacon, L. Frattare, Z. Levay, and F. Summers (Viz 3D Team, STScI)
Music: Toomas Erm
Web and technical support: Mathias Andre and Raquel Yumi Shida
Executive producer: Lars Lindberg Christensen


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3D visualisation of Arp 142

http://www.spacetelescope.org/videos/heic1311b/

This video shows a 3D visualisation of merging galaxy duo Arp 142.

Credit:

NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon, L. Frattare, Z. Levay, and F. Summers (Viz 3D Team, STScI)

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Zooming in on Arp 142

http://www.spacetelescope.org/videos/heic1311c/

This video sequence begins with a zoom through the constellation of Hydra in the night sky, finishing with Hubble observations of Arp 142.

Credit:

NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon, L. Frattare, Z. Levay, and F. Summers (Viz 3D Team, STScI), Digitized Sky Survey 2.


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Zoom and 3D visualisation of Arp 142

http://www.spacetelescope.org/videos/heic1311d/

This video sequence begins with a zoom through the constellation of Hydra in the night sky, finishing with Hubble observations of Arp 142. These observations then give way to a 3D visualisation of the two galaxies.

Credit:

NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon, L. Frattare, Z. Levay, and F. Summers (Viz 3D Team, STScI), Digitized Sky Survey 2.


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Looking through the eye of Hubble

http://www.spacetelescope.org/videos/heic1311e/

This video shows an animation of Hubble, before moving to zoom down through the telescope itself. Hubble is able to capture stunning images, providing an insight into some of the most turbulent events in our Universe.

Credit:

ESA/Hubble and M. Kornmesser





fuente:ESA/Hubble Information Centre
The ESO Education and Public Outreach Department