The Hubble Space Telescope has photographed a group of
colliding galaxies that won a cosmic popularity contest voted on by the public.
The snapshot features Arp 274 (also known as NGC 5679), a
galaxy smashup going on as three distant galaxies merge into one, drawn in by
their mutual gravitational attraction. On April 1 and 2, Hubble's Wide Field
Planetary Camera 2 snapped the photogenic site, located about 400 million light-years
away.
Arp 274 won the Space Telescope Science Institute's "You
Decide" competition, which opened up a poll to determine the target of
the next space portrait in honor of the "100
Hours of Astronomy" project, part of the ongoing International
Year of Astronomy. The striking object received 67,021 votes out of the
nearly 140,000 votes cast in the contest. Voting ended on March 1.
The two biggest galaxies are spirals that appear mostly
intact. The tiny third galaxy shows more signs of disruption.
Two of the three galaxies appear to be forming new stars at
a high rate, as evidenced by the bright blue knots of star formation that are
strung along the arms of the galaxy on the right and along the small galaxy on
the left.
The picture was made with blue, visible, and infrared light filters,
combined with a filter that isolates hydrogen emission. The colors in the image
reflect the intrinsic color of the different stellar populations that make up
the galaxies.
Yellowish older stars can be seen in the central bulge of
each galaxy. A bright central cluster of stars pinpoint each nucleus. Younger
blue stars trace the spiral arms, along with pinkish nebulae that are
illuminated by new star formation. Interstellar dust is silhouetted against the
starry population. A pair of foreground stars inside our own Milky Way are at
the far right.
NASA launched the Hubble Space Telescope in April 1990.
Since then, the observatory has spent nearly 19 years scanning the depths of
the universe and returning stunning views to scientists and the public on
Earth.
Four NASA space shuttle crews have visited the space
telescope to make repairs and upgrades during its orbital life. The fifth
and last overhaul for Hubble is currently slated to launch on May 12. That
mission includes five spacewalks aimed at extending Hubble's lifetime through
at least 2013.
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