Hubble Space Telescope image of the Porpoise (or Penguin) Galaxy, NGC 2936 (lower centre), and NGC 2937 (bottom centre), a smaller elliptical galaxy.
Hubble Space Telescope image of the Porpoise (or Penguin) Galaxy, NGC 2936 (lower centre), and NGC 2937 (bottom centre), a smaller elliptical galaxy. The pair are also designated Arp 142, and lie about 300 million light years away toward the constellation Hydra. NGC 2936 was probably a normal spiral galaxy which got too close to the massive elliptical galaxy NGC 2937. It is being deflected and distorted by close gravitational interaction with NGC 2937. Young blue stars are forming the nose of the porpoise toward the left of the galaxy. In a billion years or so the two galaxies will likely merge into one larger galaxy.
Size: 3664px × 4815px
Photo credit: © NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Team/STSci/AURA/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: -, 142, 2013, 2936, 2937, arp, astronomical, astronomy, astrophysical, astrophysics, birth, cloud, clouds, dust, elliptical, galaxy, gas, gravitational, gravity, hst, hubble, interaction, ionised, lane, merge, merger, merging, ngc, nursery, penguin, porpoise, space, spiral, star, star-birth, starbirth, starry, stellar, telescope
