Hubble image archive
Trio of Galaxies Mix It Up
This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image shows three galaxies playing a game of gravitational tug-of-war that may result in the eventual demise of one of them.Located about 100 million light-years away in the constellation Piscis Austrinus (the Southern Fish), the galaxy interactio...
- Date
- Jan 1, 2009
- Mission
- Hubble Space Telescope
- Archive ID
- hubblesite-images-2009-10-2496-image
This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image shows three galaxies playing a game of gravitational tug-of-war that may result in the eventual demise of one of them.
Located about 100 million light-years away in the constellation Piscis Austrinus (the Southern Fish), the galaxy interaction may ultimately lead to the three reforming into two larger star cities.
The three galaxies – NGC 7173 (middle left), NGC 7174 (middle right), and NGC 7176 (lower right) – are part of Hickson Compact Group 90, named after astronomer Paul Hickson, who first cataloged these small clusters of galaxies in the 1980s. NGC 7173 and NGC 7176 appear to be smooth, normal elliptical galaxies without much gas and dust.
In stark contrast, NGC 7174 is a mangled spiral galaxy that appears as though it is being ripped apart by its close neighbors. The galaxies are experiencing a strong gravitational interaction, and as a result, a significant number of stars have been ripped away from their home galaxies. These stars are now spread out, forming a tenuous luminous component in the galaxy group.
Ultimately, astronomers believe that NGC 7174 will be shredded and only the two "normal" elliptical galaxies (NGC 7173 and NGC 7176) will remain.
Hubble imaged these galaxies with the Advanced Camera for Surveys in May 2006.
Credits
NASA, ESA, and R. Sharples (University of Durham)Image Details
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | Hickson Compact Group 90 (HCG 90): NGC 7173, NGC 7174, and NGC 7176 |
| Object Description | Cluster of Interacting Galaxies |
| R.A. Position | 22h 2m 5.61s |
| Dec. Position | -31° 58' 0.44" |
| Constellation | Piscis Austrinus |
| Distance | 106 million light-years (33 megaparsecs) |
| Dimensions | This image is roughly 3.2 arcminutes (1,000,000 light-years or 31,000 parsecs) wide. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | This image was created from HST data from proposal : R. Sharples (University of Durham), M. Beasley (University of California, Santa Cruz), J. Blakeslee (Dominion Astrophysical Observatory), S. Zepf and A. Kundu (Michigan State University), and J. Cho (University of Durham). |
| Instrument | HST>ACS/WFC |
| Exposure Dates | May 16, 2006, Exposure Time: 1.2 hours |
| Filters | F850LP (z) and F475W (g) |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | The image is a composite of separate exposures made by the ACS instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope. Two filters were used to sample broad wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic image. In this case, the assigned colors are: Red: F850LP (z) Green: F850LP (z) + F475W (g) Blue: F475W (g) |
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Image and source material are credited to the official mission archive linked below.
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