The Antennae
影像版權與提供: Daniel Verschatse (Antilhue Observatory)
Explanation:
Some 60 million light-years away in the southerly constellation Corvus, two large galaxies have collided. But stars in the two galaxies - NGC 4038 and NGC 4039 - don't collide in the course of the ponderous, billion year or so long event. Instead, their large clouds of molecular gas and dust do, triggering furious episodes of star formation. Spanning about 500 thousand light-years, this stunning view reveals new star clusters and matter flung far from the scene of the accident by gravitational tidal forces. Of course, the visual appearance of the far-flung arcing structures gives the galaxy pair its popular name - The Antennae. Recorded in this deep image of the region at the tip of the upper arc is a tidal dwarf galaxy NGC 4038S, formed in the cosmic debris.
說明:
在南天的烏鴉座 (Corvus)內，離我們大約六千萬光年遠的二個大型星系發生了碰撞。在這種耗時數十億年的冗長事件中，這二個星系(NGC 4038和NGC 4039)內的恆星卻不會發生互撞，只有它們巨大的分子雲氣和塵埃雲會受到影響，因而觸發一系列猛爆的恆星形成活動。這幅涵蓋大約五十萬光年天區的壯麗影像，呈現了新誕生的星團以及被重力潮汐力所拋出的長條狀物質。所造成的彎曲長條構造，讓這對星系獲得觸鬍星系 (the Antennae)的暱稱。在這幅此區域的深空影像裡，也可以見到上方觸鬍弧頂端的潮汐矮星系NGC 4028S，它是由潮汐臂物質所聚成的星系。
資料來源: Scientific American
Department of Physics, NCKU
