Arp 142：蜂鸟星系
(原标题: Arp 142: The Hummingbird Galaxy)
2023-09-25
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这个螺旋星系发生了什么？就在几亿年前，NGC 2936，即下图中两个大星系的上部，可能是一个正常的螺旋星系——旋转，创造恒星——并关注自己的事业。但后来它离大质量椭圆星系NGC 2937太近了，就在下面，于是它转了个弯。由于其标志性的形状，NGC 2936有时被称为蜂鸟星系，它不仅被偏转，而且还被紧密的引力相互作用所扭曲。在黑暗的星际尘埃细丝后面，明亮的蓝色恒星形成了蜂鸟的鼻子，而螺旋的中心则是一只眼睛。另外，这对被称为arp142的星系看起来像海豚或企鹅在保护蛋。哈勃太空望远镜最近拍摄的这张经过重新处理的图像非常详细地展示了Arp 142。Arp 142位于大约3亿光年之外的水蛇星座（Hydra）。大约10亿年后，这两个星系可能会合并成一个更大的星系。
查看原文解释
What's happening to this spiral galaxy? Just a few hundred million years ago, NGC 2936, the upper of the two large galaxies shown at the bottom, was likely a normal spiral galaxy -- spinning, creating stars -- and minding its own business. But then it got too close to the massive elliptical galaxy NGC 2937, just below, and took a turn. Sometimes dubbed the Hummingbird Galaxy for its iconic shape, NGC 2936 is not only being deflected but also being distorted by the close gravitational interaction. Behind filaments of dark interstellar dust, bright blue stars form the nose of the hummingbird, while the center of the spiral appears as an eye. Alternatively, the galaxy pair, together known as Arp 142, look to some like Porpoise or a penguin protecting an egg. The featured re-processed image showing Arp 142 in great detail was taken recently by the Hubble Space Telescope. Arp 142 lies about 300 million light years away toward the constellation of the Water Snake (Hydra). In a billion years or so the two galaxies will likely merge into one larger galaxy.