河中的星系
(原标题: Galaxies in the River)
2023-07-27
浏览次数: 15
大星系通过吞噬小星系而成长。即使是我们自己的星系也在进行一种星系同类相食的行为，吸收那些靠得太近的小星系，并被银河系的引力俘获。事实上，这种做法在宇宙中很常见，这一对引人注目的相互作用的星系就说明了这一点，它们来自南仙女座的河岸，河。位于5000万光年之外，巨大的扭曲螺旋星系NGC 1532被困在矮星系NGC 1531的引力斗争中，较小的星系最终会输掉这场斗争。螺旋NGC 1532几乎是侧面的，它的跨度约为10万光年。这幅清晰的图像是由安装在智利塞罗托洛洛美洲天文台国家科学基金会布兰科4米望远镜上的暗能量相机拍摄的。NGC 1532/1531对被认为类似于被充分研究的正面螺旋星系和小伴星M51。
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Large galaxies grow by eating small ones. Even our own galaxy engages in a sort of galactic cannibalism, absorbing small galaxies that are too close and are captured by the Milky Way's gravity. In fact, the practice is common in the universe and illustrated by this striking pair of interacting galaxies from the banks of the southern constellation Eridanus, The River. Located over 50 million light years away, the large, distorted spiral NGC 1532 is seen locked in a gravitational struggle with dwarf galaxy NGC 1531, a struggle the smaller galaxy will eventually lose. Seen nearly edge-on, spiral NGC 1532 spans about 100,000 light-years. The merging galaxies are captured in this sharp image from the Dark Energy Camera mounted on the National Science Foundation’s Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. The NGC 1532/1531 pair is thought to be similar to the well-studied system of face-on spiral and small companion known as M51.