The Tinker Bell triplet

Using ESO's Very Large Telescope, an international team of astronomers has discovered a stunning rare case of a triple merger of galaxies. This system, which astronomers have dubbed 'The Bird' - although it also bears resemblance with a cosmic Tinker Bell - is composed of two massive spiral galaxies and a third irregular galaxy.

In this image, a 30-min VLT/NACO K-band exposure has been combined with archive HST/ACS B and I-band images to produce a three-colour image of the 'Bird' interacting galaxy system. The NACO image has allowed astronomers to not only see the two previously known galaxies, but to identify a third, clearly separate component, an irregular, yet fairly massive galaxy that seems to form stars at a frantic rate.

Credit:

ESO

Over de afbeelding

Id:eso0755a
Type:Observatie
Publicatiedatum:21 december 2007
Gerelateerde berichten:eso0755
Grootte:1246 x 1139 px

Over het object

Naam:ESO 593-IG 008, The Bird
Type:Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Interacting
Afstand:650 miljoen lichtjaren
Constellation:Sagittarius
Categorie:Galaxies

Mounted Image

Afbeeldingstypen

Grote JPEG
395,9 KB

Achtergrond

1024x768
242,9 KB
1280x1024
390,9 KB
1600x1200
525,9 KB
1920x1200
580,8 KB
2048x1536
773,1 KB

Coordinates

Position (RA):19 14 31.08
Position (Dec):-21° 19' 9.36"
Field of view:0.60 x 0.55 arcminutes
Orientation:North is 0.2° left of vertical

Kleuren & filters

BandTelescoop
Infrarood
K
Very Large Telescope
NACO
Optisch
B
Hubble Space Telescope
ACS
Infrarood
I
Hubble Space Telescope
ACS