Hubble Images a Peculiar Spiral

editornasa11 hours ago6 Views

2 min read

Hubble Images a Peculiar Spiral

A spiral galaxy seen at a skewed angle. Its center is a bright spot radiating light. A thick, stormy disk of material surrounds this bright center, with swirling strands of dark dust and bright spots of star formation strewn through the disk. A large spiral arm extends from the disk toward the viewer. Some foreground stars are visible atop the galaxy.
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features a peculiar spiral galaxy called Arp 184 or NGC 1961.
ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. Dalcanton, R. J. Foley (UC Santa Cruz), C. Kilpatrick

A beautiful but skewed spiral galaxy dazzles in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image. The galaxy, called Arp 184 or NGC 1961, sits about 190 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Camelopardalis (The Giraffe).

The name Arp 184 comes from the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies compiled by astronomer Halton Arp in 1966. It holds 338 galaxies that are oddly shaped and tend to be neither entirely elliptical nor entirely spiral-shaped. Many of the galaxies are in the process of interacting with other galaxies, while others are dwarf galaxies without well-defined structures. Arp 184 earned its spot in the catalog thanks to its single broad, star-speckled spiral arm that appears to stretch toward us. The galaxy’s far side sports a few wisps of gas and stars, but it lacks a similarly impressive spiral arm.

This Hubble image combines data from three Snapshot observing programs, which are short observations that slotted into time gaps between other proposals. One of the three programs targeted Arp 184 for its peculiar appearance. This program surveyed galaxies listed in the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies as well as A Catalogue of Southern Peculiar Galaxies and Associations, a similar catalog compiled by Halton Arp and Barry Madore.

The remaining two Snapshot programs looked at the aftermath of fleeting astronomical events like supernovae and tidal disruption events — like when a supermassive black hole rips a star apart after it wanders too closely. Since Arp 184 hosted four known supernovae in the past three decades, it is a rich target for a supernova hunt.

Media Contact:

Claire Andreoli (claire.andreoli@nasa.gov)
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight CenterGreenbelt, MD

0 Votes: 0 Upvotes, 0 Downvotes (0 Points)

Leave a reply

Recent Comments

No comments to show.
Join Us
  • Facebook38.5K
  • X Network32.1K

Stay Informed With the Latest & Most Important News

I consent to receive newsletter via email. For further information, please review our Privacy Policy

Categories

Advertisement

Loading Next Post...
Follow
Sign In/Sign Up Search Trending
Popular Now
Loading

Signing-in 3 seconds...

Signing-up 3 seconds...