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Credit & Copyright: W. Keel, R. White III, and C. Conselice
(University of Alabama)
Explanation:
This dramatic image of an
interacting pair of galaxies was made
using the 1.5 meter telescope at the
Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory
near La Serena, Chile.
NGC 1531 is the background galaxy with a bright core just above
center
and NGC 1532 is the
foreground spiral galaxy laced with dust lanes.
The pair is about 70 million light-years away in the southern
constellation
Eridanus.
These
galaxies lie close enough together so that each
feels the influence of the other's gravity.
The gravitational tug-of-war has triggered
star formation in the
foreground spiral as evidenced by the
young, bright blue star clusters
along the edge of the front spiral arm.
Though the spiral galaxy in this pair is viewed nearly edge-on, astronomers
believe the system is similar to the face-on spiral and companion
known as M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy.
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NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: spiral galaxy - interacting galaxies
Publications with words: spiral galaxy - interacting galaxies
See also: