The Penguin and the Egg
The Webb Space Telescope has launched a beautiful picture of interacting galaxies in celebration of its 2nd anniversary. Webb, which sees in infrared gentle, launched this picture on July 12, 2024. The pair of galaxies are nicknamed the Penguin and the Egg, or collectively they’re generally known as Arp 142.
The 2 galaxies are about 100,000 light-years away from one another. That will sound far, however on the size of the universe, it’s actually fairly shut! In reality, it’s about as far aside as our Milky Way is extensive.
The near- and mid-infrared observations from Webb’s cameras reveal a bluish cocoon across the galaxies. This haze is made from stars and gasoline from the galaxies’ interactions. The galaxies will proceed to loop round one another in a gravitational dance for lots of of million of years till they finally merge right into a single galaxy.
Extra in regards to the interacting galaxies
The galactic interplay has sparked star formation within the Penguin, most notably in its beak and tail feathers. In the meantime, the elliptical Egg galaxy is older with much less free gasoline to stir new star formation. The galaxies lie about 326 million light-years away from us within the course of the constellation Hydra.
Now take some time to look past the big galaxies within the picture to the numerous, many different galaxies. The bluish galaxy at prime proper is about 100,000 light-years nearer than the merging pair. This galaxy has the catalog designation PGC 1237172 and is comparatively younger. Many of the different galaxies listed below are extra distant spirals and ovals captured in just some hours of statement.
In order for you an excellent nearer look, try a fly-through visualization here.
Backside line: The Penguin and the Egg are two interacting galaxies that can one day merge. Webb launched this picture for its 2nd anniversary of science observations.
