M86-NGC 4438 complex
A deep new image of part of the Virgo cluster has revealed monumental tendrils of ionized hydrogen gas 400,000 light-years long connecting the elliptical galaxy M86 (right) and the disturbed spiral galaxy NGC 4438 (left). Taken with the wide-field Mosaic imager on the National Science Foundation’s Mayall 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory using a filter that reveals the light from Hydrogen-alpha emission, the image and related spectroscopic measurements of the filament provide striking evidence of a previously unsuspected high-speed collision between the two galaxies. The red filaments in the image show H-alpha emission with low velocities (similar to the velocities of the two colliding galaxies M86 and NGC 4438). The green filaments seen near the edge-on spiral galaxy in the lower right (NGC 4388) show H-alpha emission with much higher velocities, suggesting that this galaxy might not be related to M86.
Credit:Tomer Tal and Jeffrey Kenney/Yale University and NOAO/AURA/NSF
About the Image
Id: | noao0808a |
Type: | Collage |
Release date: | Oct. 7, 2008 |
Related releases: | noao0808 |
Size: | 2048 x 2000 px |
About the Object
Name: | M86, NGC 4438, Virgo Cluster |
Category: | Cosmology |
Wallpapers
Colors & filters
Band | Tele-scope |
---|---|
Optical | Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope Mosaic I |
Optical | Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope Mosaic I |
Optical H-alpha | Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope Mosaic I |