#arp 87

ARP 87 Arp 87, located about 300 million light years away in the constellation of Leo the Lion, is a pair of interacting galaxies. Stars, gas, and dust flow from the large spiral galaxy, NGC 3808, to form an arm reaching around its companion; this ‘arm’ stretches for over 75,000 light years. The gravitational interaction has distorted the shapes of both galaxies. The corkscrew shape of the tidal material suggests that some stars and gas from the larger galaxy have been caught in the gravitational pull of the smaller one.

Interacting Galaxy Pair Arp 87.

Arp 87, la danza cosmica di due galassie che alla fine, si fonderanno in un unico abbraccio. Per un universo di incontri, di relazioni: di storie.

Una danza cosmica di stelle gas e polvere. Una danza che si estende per ben 75.000 anni luce, a formare un ponte veramente enorme. Altro che ponte sullo stretto, di incerta e futura realizzazione ma (permettetemi) di sicura ed immediata speculazione! Il sistema di galassie interagenti Arp 87, visto da Hubble Crediti: NASA, ESA, Hubble; Processing: Harshwardhan Pathak Il ponte medesimo (questo,…

Arp 87:

Arp 87

Arp 87 is a pair of interacting galaxies located about 300 million light years away in the constellation Leo, the Lion. The two galaxies are spiral galaxy NGC 3808 seen face on in the the right side of the image and companion spiral galaxy NGC 3808A seen edge on at the left. NGC 3808A has an odd rotating ring of stars and material perpendicular to the galactic plane, called a polar ring.

The two galaxies appear joined by a swath of material 75,000 light years long. This is strong evidence that the two galaxies passed close to each other, undergoing strong mutual gravity. Further evidence is found in the high number of young, blue stars in the face on galaxy on the right that were formed in a burst of star formation. Eventually, multiple passes should eventually culminate in the two galaxies merging into one system.

Arp 87