The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is celebrating its 32nd birthday with a stunning take a look at an unusual close-knit collection of 5 galaxies, called the Hickson Compact Group 40. This snapshot reflects an unique moment in their lifetimes as they fall together before they combine. Credit: NASA, ESA and STScI
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is commemorating its 32nd birthday with a stunning view of the Hickson Compact Group 40, an amazing close-knit grouping of five galaxies. This picture records an unique minute in their lifetimes as they fall together before combining.
This menagerie includes 3 spiral-shaped galaxies, an elliptical galaxy, and a lenticular (lens-like) galaxy. Somehow, these different galaxies have crossed paths to create an abnormally crowded and diversified galaxy sampler.
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is commemorating its 32nd birthday with a stunning appearance at an unusual close-knit collection of 5 galaxies.
Caught in a leisurely gravitational dance, the whole group is so carefully jam-packed that it could fit within a region of area that is less than twice the diameter of our Milky Ways excellent disc.
Such galaxy groupings can be discovered in the center of massive galaxy clusters, these galaxies are noteworthy for being isolated in their own small area of the Universe, in the direction of the constellation Hydra.
This image reveals a wide-field view centered on the Hickson Compact Group 40. Credit: ESA/Hubble, Digitized Sky Survey 2, Acknowledgment: D. De Martin
One possibility is that theres a great deal of dark matter (an improperly understood and invisible type of matter) associated with these galaxies. , if they come close together the dark matter can form a huge cloud within which the galaxies orbit.. As the galaxies plow through the dark matter they feel a frictional force that results from its gravitational results. This slows their motion and makes the galaxies lose energy, so they fall together. As a result, this photo catches the galaxies at a particularly special point in their lives. They will ultimately integrate and clash to form a single gigantic elliptical galaxy in around 1 billion years.
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is celebrating its 32nd birthday with a stunning appearance at an uncommon close-knit collection of five galaxies, called the Hickson Compact Group 40. This snapshot shows a special moment in their life times as they fall together prior to they combine. Credit: NASA, ESA, and STScI
This compact galaxy group has been studied not just in visible light, but likewise in radio, infrared, and x-ray wavelengths. Almost all of the galaxies have a compact radio emission source at their core, which could suggest the presence of a supermassive black hole. X-ray observations reveal that the galaxies have been gravitationally connecting, as evidenced by the existence of a large quantity of hot gas amongst them. Infrared observations reveal clues on the rate at which new stars develop.
Though over 100 such compact galaxy groups have been cataloged in sky studies going back numerous years, Hickson Compact Group 40 is among the most densely packed. Observations recommend that such tight groups may have been more abundant in the early Universe and provided fuel for powering great voids, called quasars, whose light from superheated inflating material blazed across space. Studying the details of galaxies in nearby groups like this helps astronomers figure out when and where galaxies assembled themselves, and what they are put together from.
For more on this, see Celebrating Hubbles 32nd Birthday: A Stunning Look at an Unusual Collection of Five Galaxies.
More info
The Hubble Space Telescope is a job of worldwide cooperation in between ESA and NASA.
As Hubble commemorates its 32nd year of operations, below are some captivating facts about the famous observatorys achievements and effect:
The observations were performed as part of the Hubble observing program 16848 (PI: C. Britt).
Introduced on April 24, 1990, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has made more than 1.5 million observations of about 50,000 celestial things.
Astronomers utilizing Hubble information have published more than 19,000 scientific documents, with more than 1000 of those documents published in 2021.
Roughly 100,000 citations credited to Hubble are collected every 3 years. Typically, each paper based upon Hubble data has approximately 54 citations.
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is commemorating its 32nd birthday with a sensational look at an unusual close-knit collection of five galaxies, called the Hickson Compact Group 40. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is commemorating its 32nd birthday with a stunning look at an uncommon close-knit collection of 5 galaxies, called the Hickson Compact Group 40. Almost all of the galaxies have a compact radio emission source at their core, which could indicate the existence of a supermassive black hole. Over 100 such compact galaxy groups have actually been cataloged in sky studies going back several years, Hickson Compact Group 40 is one of the most largely packed. Studying the information of galaxies in neighboring groups like this helps astronomers arrange out when and where galaxies assembled themselves, and what they are assembled from.