Credit & Copyright: Jean-Franцois Bax & Serge Brunier,
OCA/C2PU;
Text:
Ogetay Kayali
(Michigan Tech U.)
Explanation:
Why does this galaxy look like a
curly vegetable?
The Fiddlehead
spiral galaxy
likely gets its distorted spiral appearance from a
gravitational interaction with its close-by elliptical
companion
NGC 770, seen just below.
Cataloged as NGC 772 and Arp 78,
the Fiddlehead spans over 200,000 light years,
is a nearby 100 million light years beyond
the stars of our Milky Way galaxy, and is visible toward the
constellation of the Ram (Aries).
But in the
featured image,
the Fiddlehead appears to have another companion --
one with a long and fuzzy tail:
Comet
43P/Wolf-Harrington.
Though the comet appears to be aimed straight at the massive galaxy, it is actually
much closer to us, residing only
light minutes away -- well within our Solar System.
The comet will never reach the distant spiral galaxy,
nor is it physically related to it.
By a fortunate trick of perspective, though, these two cosmic wonders briefly share
the same frame taken late last year from
Calern,
France.
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Январь Февраль Март Апрель Май Июнь Июль Август Сентябрь Октябрь Ноябрь Декабрь |
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
|
Публикации с ключевыми словами:
interacting galaxies - взаимодействующие галактики
Публикации со словами: interacting galaxies - взаимодействующие галактики | |
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