L’ultimo abbraccio di VIMOS
Due galassie a spirale sono bloccate in un affascinante ballo vorticoso in quest’immagine, presa con lo strumento VIMOS sul Very Large Telescope (VLT) d'ESO. Le due galassie in interazione - NGC 5426 e NGC 5427 - formano insieme un intrigante oggetto astronomico di nome Arp 271, il soggetto dell’ultima immagine catturata da VIMOS prima che venisse dismesso il 24 marzo 2018.
VIMOS - o, per intero, VIsible Multi-Object Spectrograph - è stato attivo sul VLT per ben 16 anni. Durante questo periodo ha aiutato gli scienziati a scoprire le vite iniziali e selvagge di enormi galassie, a osservare interazioni triple di galassie, e ad esplorare profonde questioni cosmiche come il modo in cui le galassie più massicce dell’universo sono cresciute così tanto. Invece di concentrarsi su singoli oggetti, VIMOS è stato in grado di acquisire informazioni dettagliate su centinaia di galassie contemporaneamente. Questo strumento sensibile ha raccolto gli spettri di decine di migliaia di galassie in tutto l'universo, mostrando come si sono formate, cresciute ed evolute.
Arp 271 è mostrato su uno sfondo di galassie distanti in questa vista, e ci sono fili di gas bluastro, polvere e stelle giovani che colmano il divario tra le due galassie - un risultato della loro reciproca interazione gravitazionale. Come molte osservazioni astronomiche, questa immagine guarda indietro nel tempo. Grazie al vasto abisso di spazio che separa la Terra e Arp 271, questa immagine mostra come le galassie apparivano oltre 110 milioni di anni fa: la quantità di tempo che ha messo la luce per raggiungerci. Si pensa che questo tipo di collisione e fusione sarà il destino finale della Via Lattea: gli scienziati ritengono che subirà un'interazione simile con la nostra vicina galassia Andromeda.
Crediti:ESO/Juan Carlos Muñoz
Riguardo l'immagine
| Identificazione: | potw1821a |
| Lingua: | it-ch |
| Tipo: | Osservazione |
| Data di rilascio: | Lunedì 21 Maggio 2018 06:00 |
| Grandezza: | 2335 x 1867 px |
Riguardo all'oggetto
| Nome: | Arp 271, NGC 5426, NGC 5427 |
| Tipo: | Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Interacting |
| Distanza: | 130 Milione Anni luce |
| Constellation: | Virgo |
Formati delle immagini
Coordinate
| Position (RA): | 14 3 25.60 |
| Position (Dec): | -6° 3' 1.57" |
| Field of view: | 7.97 x 6.37 arcminutes |
| Orientazione: | Il Nord è a 90.0° a sinistra della verticale |
Colori e filtri
| Banda | Lunghezza d'onda | Telescopio |
|---|---|---|
| Ottico B | 447 nm | Very Large Telescope VIMOS |
| Ottico V | 640 nm | Very Large Telescope VIMOS |
| Ottico R | 750 nm | Very Large Telescope VIMOS |
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