Hubble captures another spectacular frontal collision between two galaxies
His view contrasted with that of many astronomers of the 1960s, who referred to deformed galaxies as mere oddities. They believed in a universe devoid of weirdness, that most galaxies were ordered and symmetrical. But Arp believed in a different kind of universe, full of violence and birth.
One of these galaxies, cataloged by Arp, which is exploding with new stars, is the Arp 143 system. The two galaxies in this system they collided, fueling the triangular-shaped explosion and star formation. The pair contains the star-forming and distorted spiral galaxy NGC 2445, along with its less conspicuous companion, NGC 2444. A spectacular frontal collision between two galaxies fueled the frenzy of triangular-shaped star birth, as captured by the Hubble Space Telescope of NASA.
Astronomers suggest that galaxies passed through each other, igniting the uniquely shaped star-forming firestorm in NGC 2445, where thousands of stars are exploding. This galaxy is inundated with stellar births because it is rich in gas, the fuel that produces stars. However, it has not yet escaped the gravitational clutches of its partner NGC 2444. The pair are conducting a cosmic tug-of-war, which NGC 2444 appears to be winning. The galaxy extracted gas from NGC 2445, forming the strange triangle of newly formed stars.
Credits: NASA / ESA Hubble “Simulations show that frontal collisions between two galaxies are one way to create rings of new stars, ”explained astronomer Julianne Dalcanton of the Center for Computational Astrophysics at the Flatiron Institute in New York and the University of Washington in Seattle. “Therefore, star-forming rings are not uncommon. However, the strange thing about this system is that it is a star-forming triangle. Part of the reason for this shape is that these galaxies are still so close to each other and NGC 2444 still grabs onto the other galaxy. NGC 2444 may also have a hot, invisible halo of gas that could help pull NGC 2445 gas away from its core. Therefore, they are not yet completely free from each other and their unusual interaction is distorting the ring in this triangle. ”
NGC 2444 is also responsible for extracting gas filaments from its partner, feeding the streamers of young blue stars that appear to form a bridge between the two galaxies.
These stellar filaments are among the first in what appears to be a wave of star formation that began on the periphery of NGC 2445 and continued towards the inland. Researchers estimate that these star strands were born between about 50 million and 100 million years ago. But these newborn stars are left behind as NGC 2445 continues to slowly move away from NGC 2444.
Stars no older than 1 million or 2 million years are forming closer to the center of NGC 2445. The acute Hubble's sharpness reveals some individual stars. They are the brightest and most massive in the galaxy. Most of the bright blue wisps are clusters of stars. The pink spots are gigantic, young star clusters still shrouded in dust and gas.
Although most of the action is taking place in NGC 2445, that doesn't mean that the other half of the interacting pair has escaped unscathed. The gravitational struggle has stretched NGC 2444 into an odd shape. The galaxy contains old stars and no new stellar births because it lost its gas long ago, well before this galactic encounter.
“This is an example of the kind of interactions that took place a long time ago. It's a fantastic sandbox for understanding star formation and interacting galaxies, ”said Elena Sabbi of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland.
The Hubble Space Telescope is an international cooperation project between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland operates the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland conducts Hubble's science operations. STScI is managed for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy in Washington, D.C.
