Hubble telescope has taken a fascinating photo of galaxies connected by a glowing “tail”
NASA has shown a beautiful photograph of galaxies connected by a long glowing bridge. The photo, taken by the Hubble Telescope, shows the Arp 248 galaxy system 200 million light years away from Earth.
The galaxies known as Arp 248 or Wild Triplet are located in the constellation Virgo. The system consists of three galaxies, two of which are connected by a long illuminated “tail.” It is actually a stream of gas, dust and stars, formed when two galaxies interact gravitationally.
Such “tails” are well known to astronomers. They can trail behind galaxies, measuring hundreds or even thousands of parsecs. One parsec is 3.26 light years or 206,000 astronomical units. In turn, an astronomical unit is defined as the distance separating the Earth and the Sun, which is about 150 million kilometers.
Galaxies with “tails”
One of the most beautiful cosmic “tails” has the Tadpole Galaxy, located in the constellation Dragon. It measures 280,000 light years and is probably the result of one of the galaxy’s spiral arms being stretched out by a neighboring galaxy that has passed by. Tidal forces pull stars, dust and gas out of the Tadpole Galaxy, which will eventually break away from the parent galaxy.
