New images taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope provide a detailed look at an interacting pair of galaxies. alp 300.
This Hubble image shows Arp 300, a pair of interacting galaxies about 185 million light-years apart in the constellation Ursa Major. Image credits: NASA / ESA / J. Dalcanton, University of Washington / R. Windhorst, Arizona State University / NASA and Gladys Kober, Catholic University of America.
ARP 300 Galaxy Duo is approx. 185 million light years Beyond Ursa Major.
Also known as Markarian 111, Mrk 111, LEDA 26849. consisting of Two interacting galaxies: UGC 5028 (smaller facing spiral galaxy) and UGC 5029 (larger facing spiral galaxy)
“Perhaps due to its gravitational dance with its larger partner, UGC 5028 has an asymmetric and irregular structure that is not very visible from ground-based telescopes, but it is very clearly visible in this new image.” said Hubble astronomers in a statement.
“The bright knot visible southeast of UGC 5028’s center may be the remnant of another small galaxy that is merging with that galaxy.”
“If this is the case, the debris will eventually merge with the star bar visible in Hubble images of UGC 5028, forming a central bulge similar to the bulge in UGC 5029, Arp 300’s larger satellite galaxy. That will happen.”
“UGC 5029 has a pronounced spiral structure, with multiple hot blue giant stars visible on the side facing UGC 5028,” the researchers added.
“This enhanced star formation is likely due to interactions between the two galaxies.”
“Another edge-on spiral galaxy is visible beneath UGC 5029 in this image, but it is too small to resolve into star-forming regions,” the researchers said.
“The five objects above it are probably a group of distant background galaxies.”
“We observed pairs of Arp 300 galaxies to study the relationship between the overall physical characteristics of galaxies and star formation.”