This Hubble Space Telescope image shows two of the galaxies in the galactic triplet Arp 248– also called Wilds Triplet– which lies around 200 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo. Credit: ESA/Hubble & & NASA, Dark Energy Survey/DOE/FNAL/ DECam/CTIO/NOIRLab/ NSF/AURA, J. Dalcanton
Two of the galaxies in the galactic triplet Arp 248– also known as Wilds Triplet– are seen in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Arp 248 is located roughly 200 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo. The 2 big spiral nebula noticeable in this image– which flank a smaller, unrelated background spiral galaxy– seem connected by a luminous bridge. Understood as a tidal tail, this extended stream of stars and interstellar dust was formed by the mutual gravitational attraction of the 2 foreground galaxies.
This observation originates from a task which explores 2 rogues galleries of fantastic and strange galaxies: A Catalogue of Southern Peculiar Galaxies and Associations, assembled by astronomers Halton Arp and Barry Madore, and the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies, put together by Halton Arp. Each collection contains a menagerie of spectacularly peculiar galaxies, consisting of connecting galaxies such as Arp 248, in addition to one- or three-armed spiral galaxies, galaxies with shell-like structures, and a range of other area oddities.
Hubble used its Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) to search this menagerie of eccentric galaxies in search of appealing prospects for future observations with the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, and Hubble itself. With such a wealth of huge challenge study in the night sky, tasks such as this, which guide future observations, are an important investment of observing time. As well as the scientific benefits of observing these strange and terrific galaxies, they were likewise– very abnormally– picked as Hubble targets due to the fact that of their visual interest the general public!
By ESA/Hubble
October 31, 2022
