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Credit & Copyright: Robert Gendler,
Jan-Erik Ovaldsen,
Allan Hornstrup,
IDA
Image data: ESO/Danish 1.5m telescope at La Silla, Chile - 2008
Explanation:
Large galaxies grow by eating small ones.
Even our own galaxy practices
galactic cannibalism,
absorbing small galaxies that get too close and
are captured by
the Milky Way's gravity.
In fact, the practice is common in the universe and
well
illustrated by this striking pair of interacting galaxies
from the banks of the southern constellation
Eridanus
(The River).
Located over 50 million light years away,
the large, distorted spiral NGC 1532 is seen locked in a
gravitational
struggle with dwarf galaxy NGC 1531, a struggle the smaller galaxy
will eventually lose.
Seen edge-on, spiral NGC 1532 spans about 100,000 light-years.
The NGC 1532/1531 pair is thought to be similar
to the system of face-on spiral and small companion known as M51, the
Whirlpool Galaxy.
Image data: ESO/Danish 1.5m telescope at La Silla, Chile - 2008
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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: galaxies
Publications with words: galaxies
See also:
- APOD: 2024 April 15 Á The Cigar Galaxy from Hubble and Webb
- APOD: 2024 March 20 Á The Eyes in Markarians Galaxy Chain
- APOD: 2023 August 2 Á M82: Galaxy with a Supergalactic Wind
- In the Heart of the Virgo Cluster
- Comet Leonard and the Whale Galaxy
- NGC 3314: When Galaxies Overlap
- The Hubble Ultra Deep Field in Light and Sound