Interacting galaxies NGC 6745

Noirlab_noao-hst0034_1024

noirlab_noao-hst0034 June 30th, 2020

Credit: Roger Lynds (NOAO), NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team, STScI/AURA

This is a Hubble Heritage image created by current and former NOAO staff members. The text is modified from the STScI press release, number STScI-PRC00-34 (Heritage). NGC6745 in the constellation of Lyra is a striking example of a galaxy-galaxy collision. A large spiral galaxy, with its nucleus still intact, has interacted with a smaller passing galaxy (nearly out of the field of view at lower right), where bright blue and bright whitish-blue features show the distinct path taken during the smaller galaxy's journey. These galaxies did not merely interact gravitationally as they passed one another, they actually collided. When galaxies collide, the stars that normally comprise the major portion of the luminous mass of each of the two galaxies will almost never collide with each other, but will pass rather freely between each other with little damage. This occurs because the physical size of individual stars is tiny compared to their typical separations, making the chance of physical encounter relatively small. In our own Milky Way galaxy, the space between our Sun and our nearest stellar neighbor, Proxima Centauri (part of the Alpha Centauri triple system), is a vast 4.3 light-years. However, the situation is quite different for the interstellar media in the above two galaxies - material consisting largely of clouds of atomic and molecular gases and of tiny particles of matter and dust, strongly coupled to the gas. Wherever the interstellar clouds of the two galaxies collide, they do not freely move past each other without interruption but, rather, suffer a damaging collision. High relative velocities cause ram pressures at the surface of contact between the interacting interstellar clouds. This pressure, in turn, produces material densities sufficiently extreme as to trigger star formation through gravitational collapse. The hot blue stars in this image are evidence of this star formation. This image was created by the Hubble Heritage Team using NASA Hubble Space Telescope archive data taken with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 in March 1996. Members of the science team, which include Roger Lynds (KPNO/NOAO) and Earl J. O'Neil, Jr. (Steward Obs.), used infrared, red, visual and ultraviolet filters to image this galaxy system. Lynds and O'Neil are currently using the Hubble data along with ground-based radio observations to further study the interactions within NGC6745. Image Credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Acknowledgement: Roger Lynds (KPNO/NOAO)

Provider: NOIRLab

Image Source: https://noirlab.edu/public/images/noao-hst0034/

Curator: NSF's NOIRLab, Tucson, AZ, USA

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Download Options

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
NGC 6745
Noirlab_noao-hst0034_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 19h 1m 40.7s
DEC = 40° 44’ 48.6”
Orientation
North is 145.5° CW
Field of View
1.2 x 1.2 arcminutes
Constellation
Lyra

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red Hubble (WFPC2) Infrared (I) 814.0 nm
Green Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (V) 555.0 nm
Blue Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (U) 336.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Red
Green
Blue
Noirlab_noao-hst0034_1280
×
ID
noao-hst0034
Subject Category
Subject Name
NGC 6745
Credits
Roger Lynds (NOAO), NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team, STScI/AURA
Release Date
2020-06-30T21:33:59
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://noirlab.edu/public/images/noao-hst0034/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
WFPC2, WFPC2, WFPC2
Color Assignment
Red, Green, Blue
Band
Infrared, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
I, V, U
Central Wavelength
814, 555, 336
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
None, None, None
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
285.4194408, 40.7468391
Reference Dimension
755.0, 726.0
Reference Pixel
378.5, 364.0
Scale
-2.76152967882e-05, 2.75347425534e-05
Rotation
-145.5
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
NSF's NOIRLab
URL
https://noirlab.edu
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
950 North Cherry Ave.
City
Tucson
State/Province
AZ
Postal Code
85719
Country
USA
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
NSF's NOIRLab
Publisher ID
noirlab
Resource ID
noao-hst0034
Metadata Date
2021-07-24T13:12:03.811306
Metadata Version
1.1
×

 

Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×

There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

Providers | Sign In