Astronomy Picture of the Day——Arp 273:哈勃望远镜拍摄的星系大战

Arp 273: Battling Galaxies from Hubble 
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble; Processing & Copyright: Rudy Pohl

Explanation: What's happening to these spiral galaxies? Although details remain uncertain, there sure seems to be a titanic battle going on. The upper galaxy is labelled UGC 1810 by itself, but together with its collisional partners is known as Arp 273. The overall shape of the UGC 1810 -- in particular its blue outer ring -- is likely a result of wild and violentgravitational interactions. The blue color of the outer ring at the top is caused by massive stars that are blue hot and have formed only in the past few million years. The inner part of the upper galaxy -- itself an older spiral galaxy -- appears redder and threaded with cool filamentary dust. A few bright stars appear well in the foreground, unrelated to colliding galaxies, while several far-distant galaxies are visible in the background. Arp 273 lies about 300 million light years away toward the constellation of Andromeda. Quite likely, UGC 1810 will devour its galactic sidekicks over the next billion years and settle into a classic spiral form.

Arp 273:哈勃望远镜拍摄的星系大战

这些星系之间发生了什么?虽然具体情况尚不确定,但它们肯定在进行一场战斗。图像上方的星系在单独提起的时候被称作UGC 1810,但通常,天文学家把它和与其碰撞的星系合起来,统称为Arp 273。UGC 1810的外形很可能是狂暴引力相互作用的结果。星系外环的蓝色光芒是因为存在炽热的蓝色大质量恒星,这些恒星刚刚形成数百万年。上方星系的内部本身就是一个古老的旋涡星系,它看起来非常红,并交织着、丝状尘埃。一些明亮的恒星在前景清晰可见,它们与背景的星系并无关系,图像中还能看到几个更遥远的星系。Arp 273位于仙女座方向,距离地球约3亿光年。UGC 1810很可能在10亿年内吞噬它的星系伙伴们,并最终形成一个经典的旋涡星系。

高清原图地址:

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1911/Arp273_HubblePohl_1824.jpg

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