Hubble captures a wonky galaxy being pulled out of shape

By Georgina Torbet May 29, 2021

This spectacular image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the trailing arms of NGC 2276, a spiral galaxy 120 million light-years away in the constellation of Cepheus. At first glance, the delicate tracery of bright spiral arms and dark dust lanes resembles countless other spiral galaxies. A closer look reveals a strangely lopsided galaxy shaped by gravitational interaction and intense star formation. — This spectacular image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the trailing arms of NGC 2276, a spiral galaxy 120 million light-years away in the constellation of Cepheus. At first glance, the delicate tracery of bright spiral arms and dark dust lanes resembles countless other spiral galaxies. A closer look reveals a strangely lopsided galaxy shaped by gravitational interaction and intense star formation. ESA/Hubble & NASA, P. Sell Acknowledgement: L. Shatz

Most spiral galaxies, like our own Milky Way, tend to be symmetrical. However, sometimes a dramatic event can happen to a galaxy and pull it into an asymmetric shape, like what is happening to the galaxy NGC 2276 in the constellation of Cepheus. This galaxy was recently imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope, and though it might look like a typical spiral galaxy if you look at it quickly, on closer inspection you can see that it has an unusually wonky shape.

There are in fact two oddities about this particular galaxy, which are caused by two different types of interaction. In the top right of the image, you can see that one of the spiral arms seems to be peeling away from the main body of the galaxy. This is due to a nearby companion galaxy, NCG 2300. This companion galaxy is exerting a gravitational pull on NCG 2276 and has twisted it out of shape. In fact, it has twisted the galaxy so much that it appears to be face-on to us on Earth, but in fact, the galaxy faces away at an angle.

The other oddity is on the left-hand side of the image. You can see that there are many more blue areas in this region than in the rest of the galaxy. These blue regions are areas of star formation, where new, young stars grow brightly. This star formation is particularly intense in this area due to the galaxy’s interaction with the hot gas which lies between galaxy clusters, called the intracluster medium.

Although we usually think of the space between galaxies as being empty nothingness, in fact, there can be gases such as hydrogen and helium there and even heavier elements such as iron. When it comes close to a galaxy like NCG 2276, this matter can become clumped together under the force of gravity, where it provides material for new stars.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Georgina Torbet

Space Writer

Georgina is the Digital Trends space writer, covering human space exploration, planetary science, and cosmology. She…

Space

Small exoplanet could be hot and steamy according to Hubble

This is an artist’s conception of the exoplanet GJ 9827d, the smallest exoplanet where water vapour has been detected in its atmosphere. The planet could be an example of potential planets with water-rich atmospheres elsewhere in our galaxy. It is a rocky world, only about twice Earth’s diameter. It orbits the red dwarf star GJ 9827. Two inner planets in the system are on the left. The background stars are plotted as they would be seen to the unaided eye looking back toward our Sun, which itself is too faint to be seen. The blue star at upper right is Regulus, the yellow star at bottom centre is Denebola, and the blue star at bottom right is Spica. The constellation Leo is on the left, and Virgo is on the right. Both constellations are distorted from our Earth-bound view from 97 light-years away.

One of the big topics in exoplanet research right now is not just finding exoplanets but also looking at their atmospheres. Tools like the James Webb Space Telescope are designed to allow researchers to look at the light coming from distant stars and see how it is filtered as it passes by exoplanets, allowing them to learn about the composition of their atmospheres. But scientists are also using older telescopes like the Hubble Space Telescope for similar research -- and Hubble recently identified water vapor in an exoplanet atmosphere.

“This would be the first time that we can directly show through an atmospheric detection that these planets with water-rich atmospheres can actually exist around other stars,” said researcher Björn Benneke of the Université de Montréal in a statement. “This is an important step toward determining the prevalence and diversity of atmospheres on rocky planets."

Space

Hear the otherworldly sounds of interacting galaxies with this Hubble sonification

This new NASA Hubble Space Telescope image showcases a resplendent pair of galaxies known as Arp 140.

When two different galaxies get close enough together that they begin interacting, they are sometimes given a shared name. That's the case with a newly released image from the Hubble Space Telescope that shows two galaxies, NGC 274 and NGC 275, which are together known as Arp 140. not only is there a new image of the pair, but there's also a sonification available so you can hear the image as well as see it.

This new NASA Hubble Space Telescope image showcases a resplendent pair of galaxies known as Arp 140. NASA/ESA/R. Foley (University of California - Santa Cruz)/Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)

Space

Hubble captures an exceptionally luminous supernova site

This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image is of the small galaxy known as UGC 5189A.

This week's image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows the aftermath of an epic explosion in space caused by the death of a massive star.

Some of the most dramatic events in the cosmos are supernovas, when a massive star runs out of fuel to fuse -- first running out of hydrogen, then helium, then burning through heavier elements -- and eventually can no longer sustain the outward pressure from heat caused by this fusion. When that happens, the star collapses suddenly into a dense core, and its outer layers are thrown off in a tremendous explosion called a Type II supernova.