ilan
01-04-2017, 01:51 PM
Hubble Captures Stunning Image of LEDA 52270
Sci News | Jan 2, 2017
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken a picture of LEDA 52270, a combination of two gas-rich spiral galaxies.
http://cdn.sci-news.com/images/enlarge3/image_4501e-LEDA-52270.jpg
This image, taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys on board the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows LEDA 52270. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.
LEDA 52270 is located in the constellation Libra, over a billion light-years away.
This doomed duo approached one another too closely in the past, gravity causing them to affect and tug at each other and slowly, destructively, merge into one.
Also known as IRAS 14348-1447, 2MASX J14373831-1500239 and GNH 35, LEDA 52270 is also one of the most gas-rich examples known of an ultraluminous infrared galaxy, a class of cosmic objects that shine characteristically, and incredibly brightly, in the infrared part of the spectrum.
Almost 95 percent of the energy emitted by LEDA 52270 is in the far-infrared.
The huge amount of molecular gas within LEDA 52270 fuels its emission, and undergoes a number of dynamical processes as it interacts and moves around.
These very same mechanisms are responsible for LEDA 52270’s own whirling and ethereal appearance, creating prominent tails and wisps extending away from the main body of the galaxy.
This image is a composite of separate exposures acquired by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS).
Two filters — the blue filter F435W and the near-infrared filter F814W — were used to sample various wavelengths.
The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter.
Sci News | Jan 2, 2017
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken a picture of LEDA 52270, a combination of two gas-rich spiral galaxies.
http://cdn.sci-news.com/images/enlarge3/image_4501e-LEDA-52270.jpg
This image, taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys on board the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows LEDA 52270. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.
LEDA 52270 is located in the constellation Libra, over a billion light-years away.
This doomed duo approached one another too closely in the past, gravity causing them to affect and tug at each other and slowly, destructively, merge into one.
Also known as IRAS 14348-1447, 2MASX J14373831-1500239 and GNH 35, LEDA 52270 is also one of the most gas-rich examples known of an ultraluminous infrared galaxy, a class of cosmic objects that shine characteristically, and incredibly brightly, in the infrared part of the spectrum.
Almost 95 percent of the energy emitted by LEDA 52270 is in the far-infrared.
The huge amount of molecular gas within LEDA 52270 fuels its emission, and undergoes a number of dynamical processes as it interacts and moves around.
These very same mechanisms are responsible for LEDA 52270’s own whirling and ethereal appearance, creating prominent tails and wisps extending away from the main body of the galaxy.
This image is a composite of separate exposures acquired by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS).
Two filters — the blue filter F435W and the near-infrared filter F814W — were used to sample various wavelengths.
The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter.
