韦伯影像: 互扰星系Arp 142

2024年7月30日

Arp 142: Interacting Galaxies from Webb
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Hubble Rollover Reprocessing & Copyright: Raul Villaverde

Explanation: To some, it looks like a penguin. But to people who study the universe, it is an interesting example of two big galaxies interacting. Just a few hundred million years ago, the upper NGC 2936 was likely a normal spiral galaxy: spinning, creating stars, and minding its own business. Then it got too close to the massive elliptical galaxy NGC 2937, below, and took a dive. Together known as Arp 142, they are featured in this new Webb infrared image, while a visible light Hubble image appears in comparison. NGC 2936 is not only being deflected, but distorted, by this close gravitational interaction. When massive galaxies pass near each other, gas is typically condensed from which new stars form. A young group of stars appears as the nose of the penguin toward the right of the upper galaxy, while in the center of the spiral, bright stars together appear as an eye. Before a billion years, the two galaxies will likely merge into one larger galaxy.

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韦伯影像: 互扰星系Arp 142
影像提供: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; 哈勃影像处理与版权: Raul Villaverde

说明: 有人认为这个天体形似企鹅。但对在探索宇宙的人们来说，它是2个大星系互扰的有趣范例。近在数亿年前，影像上方的NGC 2936可能还是个正常的螺旋星系；在自转，在造星，在安静的过着自已的日子。然后，它靠庞大的椭圆星系NGC 2937（下方）太近，就被扯着往下俯冲。这幅全新的韦伯红外光影像即呈现合称为Arp 142的这二个星系，而附随的哈勃的可见光影像则作为对照之用。NGC 2936不但因为近距离的引力交互作用而转向，它的外观也出现变形。当大星系彼此接近时，内部的气体通常会受到压缩而形成新恒星。以影像里的Arp 142来说，成群出现在上方星系右侧的新诞生恒星构成了企鹅的鸟喙，而此螺旋星系中心群集的众多亮星则是企鹅的一只眼睛。在不到10亿年的期间里，这二个星系可能会合并成更大的单一星系。