These two galaxies [
http://oposite.stsc…] are interacting in a surprising way, connected by a "pipeline" of obscuring material that runs between them over 20,000 light-years of intergalactic space. Silhouetted [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] by starlight, the dark, dusty ribbon appears to stretch from NGC 1410 (the galaxy at the left) and wrap itself around NGC 1409 (at right). A mere 300 million light-years distant in the constellation of Taurus [
http://aibn47.astro…taurus/ ], the pair's recent collision has likely drawn out this relatively thin lane of material which is only about 500 light-years wide. Though the Hubble Space Telescope image dramatically illustrates [
http://www.astr.ua.…] how galaxies exchange matter when they collide, it also presents challenges to current pictures of galaxy evolution [
http://oposite.stsc…af3.html ]. The titanic collision has [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] triggered star formation in NGC 1410 as evidenced by its blue star forming regions, yet NGC 1409 remains devoid of hot, young blue stars [
http://oposite.stsc…] even though observations indicate that material is flowing into it. Bound by gravity, these two [
http://www.astr.ua.…] galaxies are doomed to future collisions, merging [
http://oposite.stsc…index.html#Animation s ] over time into one.
Explanation
These two galaxies [
http://oposite.stsc…] are interacting in a surprising way, connected by a "pipeline" of obscuring material that runs between them over 20,000 light-years of intergalactic space. Silhouetted [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] by starlight, the dark, dusty ribbon appears to stretch from NGC 1410 (the galaxy at the left) and wrap itself around NGC 1409 (at right). A mere 300 million light-years distant in the constellation of Taurus [
http://aibn47.astro…taurus/ ], the pair's recent collision has likely drawn out this relatively thin lane of material which is only about 500 light-years wide. Though the Hubble Space Telescope image dramatically illustrates [
http://www.astr.ua.…] how galaxies exchange matter when they collide, it also presents challenges to current pictures of galaxy evolution [
http://oposite.stsc…af3.html ]. The titanic collision has [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] triggered star formation in NGC 1410 as evidenced by its blue star forming regions, yet NGC 1409 remains devoid of hot, young blue stars [
http://oposite.stsc…] even though observations indicate that material is flowing into it. Bound by gravity, these two [
http://www.astr.ua.…] galaxies are doomed to future collisions, merging [
http://oposite.stsc…index.html#Animation s ] over time into one.
Explanation
