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Galaxies spend most of their lives drifting through the cosmic expanse in isolation.
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But, every so often, two unfortunate galaxies stray just a little too close to one another,
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as was the case with the duo Arp 142.
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Showcased in a stunning new image from Hubble, these two galaxies uncannily resemble a penguin guarding its egg.
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The galaxies are in middle of a violent merger,
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with clouds of gas and dust colliding at breakneck speeds and triggering bursts of star formation.
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Episode 67: Of galaxies and penguins — Arp 142
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Presented by Dr. J, aka Dr. Joe Liske
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This episode of the Hubblecast will tell you the story of a penguin and its egg.
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Well, to be more accurate, it’s a pair of galaxies known as Arp 142.
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This new Hubble image of the interacting pair shows the blue, twisted form of galaxy NGC 2936
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and its partner NGC 2937
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These two galaxies are in the middle of a merger event, violently ripping material from one another.
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But with a bit of imagination, this turns into a different story.
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NGC 2936 becomes a penguin hunched over at the bottom of this picture,
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sheltering the white egg below.
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However, this picture of parental love is deceptive.
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The egg, NGC 2937, is actually ripping its larger companion apart.
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The eye of the “penguin” is all that remains of NGC 2936,
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once a spiral galaxy like our Milky Way.
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Its disrupted arms streak down through this image,
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shaping the cosmic bird’s “body” as a cascade of blue and red.
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The gravitational interactions between the galaxies have forged the distinctive shape of Arp 142.
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Galaxy mergers are very violent
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When two galaxies collide, they can be rendered unrecognisable,
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as vast clouds of gas and dust race towards each other
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crashing forcefully and sparking bursts of star formation
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Hubble has been able to view and capture some of these mergers
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providing us with beautiful astronomical images
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and an insight into these turbulent events.
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For example, here is a pair of spiral galaxies known as Arp 240
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Appearing to hold hands as they dance through the sky, these galaxies are interacting
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creating a wispy bridge of material stretching out between the two.
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Another stunning merger can be seen in Arp 272, a sparkling galaxy duo linked by their swirling arms.
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And here is Arp 243, a pinwheeling pair of galaxies that has formed beautiful tidal tails
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The nuclei of the two galaxies have now all but merged
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forming one larger core at the heart of this messy jumble
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One of the most breathtaking galactic mergers can be found in the Antennae Galaxies,
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a pair of sparkling galaxies that have interacted to form their own striking and distinctive shape.
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Galactic mergers can produce stunning scenes
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Although sometimes serene on the outside, as with our penguin and egg,
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when we look closer we actually find chaos.
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Hubblecast is produced by ESA/Hubble at the European Southern Observatory in Germany.
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The Hubble mission is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency.
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www.spacetelescope.org
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Transcribed by ESA/Hubble. Translation --
