Ballet of interacting galaxies

The pair of galaxies NGC 1531/2, engaged in a spirited waltz, is located about 70 million light-years away towards the southern constellation Eridanus (The River). The deformed foreground spiral galaxy laced with dust lanes NGC 1532 is so close to its companion — the background galaxy with a bright core just above the centre of NGC 1532 — that it gets distorted: one of its spiral arms is warped and plumes of dust and gas are visible above its disc. The cosmic dance leads to another dramatic effect: a whole new generation of massive stars were born in NGC 1532 because of the interaction. They are visible as the purple objects in the spiral arms.

This exquisite image was made using the 1.5-metre Danish telescope at the ESO La Silla Observatory, Chile. It is based on data obtained through three different filters: B, V and R. The field of view is 12 x 12 arcmin.

Źródło:

ESO/IDA/Danish 1.5 m/R.Gendler and J.-E. Ovaldsen

O zdjęciu

Identyfikator:ngc1532
Typ:Obserwacje
Data publikacji:3 grudnia 2009 23:20
Rozmiar:1920 x 1744 px

O obiekcie

Nazwa:NGC 1531, NGC 1532
Typ:Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Lenticular
Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Spiral
Odległość:50 milion lat świetlnych
Constellation:Eridanus
Kategoria:Galaxies

Formaty zdjęć

Wielki JPEG
479,8 KB

Tapety

1024x768
132,1 KB
1280x1024
208,8 KB
1600x1200
310,8 KB
1920x1200
425,4 KB
2048x1536
514,5 KB

Współrzędne

Pozycja (RA):4 12 4.34
Pozycja (Dec):-32° 52' 27.13"
Pole widzenia:12.62 x 11.46 arcminutes
Orientacja:North is 45.2° lewo of vertical