A (Galactic) Arm’s Length Away
The two galaxies in this image — NGC 672 (top right) and IC 1727 (bottom left) — appear to be so close that they are almost elbowing each other, like playful children. In fact, the galaxies shown in this beautifully detailed image taken at the Kitt Peak National Observatory, a program of NSF’s NOIRLab, are classified as a galactic pair, and the gravity of each galaxy influences the other. The pair are located around 20 million light-years away from Earth and the space between them spans over 80,000 light-years, a seemingly enormous gap. However, from the perspective of the galaxies themselves, that separation is not so significant, as it is roughly equivalent to the size of the galaxies themselves.
Credit:KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA
Acknowledgments:
PI: M T. Patterson (New Mexico State University)
Image processing: Travis Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage), Mahdi Zamani & Davide de Martin
About the Image
Id: | iotw2019a |
Type: | Observation |
Release date: | May 6, 2020, 3 a.m. |
Size: | 3619 x 3414 px |
About the Object
Wallpapers
Coordinates
Position (RA): | 1 47 42.21 |
Position (Dec): | 27° 22' 18.91" |
Field of view: | 15.77 x 14.88 arcminutes |
Orientation: | North is 90.1° right of vertical |
Colors & filters
Band | Wave-length | Tele-scope |
---|---|---|
Optical U | 355 nm | Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope Mosaic I |
Optical B | 438 nm | Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope Mosaic I |
Optical R | 651 nm | Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope Mosaic I |
Optical H-alpha | 657 nm | Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope Mosaic I |