松开之中的NGC 3169

松开之中的NGC 3169

Unraveling NGC 3169
Image Credit & Copyright: Christophe Vergnes, Aziz Kaeouach

Explanation: Spiral galaxy NGC 3169 looks to be unraveling like a ball of cosmic yarn. It lies some 70 million light-years away, south of bright star Regulus toward the faint constellation Sextans. Wound up spiral arms are pulled out into sweeping tidal tails as NGC 3169 (left) and neighboring NGC 3166 interact gravitationally. Eventually the galaxies will merge into one, a common fate even for bright galaxies in the local universe. Drawn out stellar arcs and plumes are clear indications of the ongoing gravitational interactions across the deep and colorful galaxy group photo. The telescopic frame spans about 20 arc minutes or about 400,000 light-years at the group’s estimated distance, and includes smaller, bluish NGC 3165 to the right. NGC 3169 is also known to shine across the spectrum from radio to X-rays, harboring an active galactic nucleus that is the site of a supermassive black hole.

Tomorrow’s picture: New Euclid space telescope image

松开之中的NGC 3169
影像提供与版权: Christophe Vergnes, Aziz Kaeouach

说明: 螺旋星系NGC 3169看起来像一团正在松开的宇宙毛线球。位于亮星轩辕十四南方的昏暗六分仪座方向、距离约7千万光年远的NGC 3169（左），其美丽螺旋臂在与邻近NGC 3166之间的重力交互作用下，被拉扯成宽广的潮汐尾。最后，它们将合并成单一个星系，而这种星系宿命，于我们附近宇宙空间的明亮星系之中也很常见。在这幅此星系群的彩色深空影像里，散布在各处的颀长恒星弧及羽状云气，是正在发生重力互扰的明确指标。这片望远镜视野宽约20角分，以此星系群（成员还包括右侧较小的泛蓝NGC 3165）所在的距离来换算，其跨幅约为400,000光年。由于NGC 3169的活跃星系核藏有超大质量黑洞，因此它在无线电到X射线之间的电磁波段都很明亮。

明日的图片: New Euclid space telescope image