哈勃拍摄到一对相互作用的星系

The two interacting galaxies making up the pair known as Arp-Madore 608-333 seem to float side by side in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Though they appear serene and unperturbed, the two are subtly warping one another through a mutual gravitational interaction that is disrupting and distorting both galaxies. Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys captured this drawn-out galactic interaction.

The interacting galaxies in Arp-Madore 608-333 are part of an effort to build up an archive of interesting targets for more detailed future study with Hubble, ground-based telescopes, and the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. To build up this archive, astronomers scoured existing astronomical catalogues for a list of targets spread throughout the night sky. They hoped to include objects already identified as interesting and that would be easy for Hubble to observe no matter which direction it was pointing.

Deciding how to award Hubble observing time is a drawn-out, competitive, and difficult process, and the observations are allocated to use every last second of Hubble time available. However, there is a small but persistent fraction of time – around 2-3 percent – that goes unused as Hubble turns to point at new targets. Snapshot programs, such as the one which captured Arp-Madore 608-333, exist to fill this gap and take advantage of the moments between longer observations. Snapshot programs not only produce beautiful images, they enable astronomers to gather as much data as possible with Hubble.

Text credit: European Space Agency (ESA)
Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, Dark Energy Survey/Department of Energy/Fermilab/Dark Energy Camera (DECam)/Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory/NOIRLab/AURA

在NASA/ESA哈勃太空望远镜拍摄的这张图片中，这对相互作用的星系被称为Arp-Madore 608-333，它们似乎并排漂浮在一起。虽然它们看起来平静而不受干扰，但它们通过相互的引力作用微妙地扭曲着彼此，这种相互作用正在扰乱和扭曲着这两个星系。哈勃的高级观测相机拍摄到了这种漫长的星系相互作用。

Arp Madore 608-333中的相互作用星系是建立有趣目标档案的努力的一部分，以便将来使用哈勃、地面望远镜和NASA/ESA/CSA詹姆斯·韦伯太空望远镜进行更详细的研究。为了建立这个档案，天文学家搜索了现有的天文目录，寻找分布在夜空中的目标列表。他们希望包括已经被确认为有趣的物体，这样哈勃无论指向哪个方向都很容易观测到它们。

决定如何分配哈勃的观测时间是一个漫长的、竞争激烈的、困难的过程，观测结果的分配要利用哈勃可利用的每一秒。然而，当哈勃转向指向新目标时，有一小部分时间（约2-3%）会被闲置。快照程序，比如捕捉到Arp-Madore 608-333的程序，就是为了填补这一空白，并利用较长观测之间的时间间隔。快照程序不仅能产生漂亮的图像，还能让天文学家通过哈勃收集尽可能多的数据。

文本来源：European Space Agency (ESA)
图片来源：ESA/Hubble & NASA, Dark Energy Survey/Department of Energy/Fermilab/Dark Energy Camera (DECam)/Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory/NOIRLab/AURA