NGC 772 :萁星系
NGC 772: The Fiddlehead Galaxy

來源:Jean-François Bax & Serge Brunier,
OCA/C2PU;
Text:
Ogetay Kayali
(Michigan Tech U.)|發表日期:2025-03-12
為什麼這個星系看起來像捲曲的蔬菜? 萁狀螺旋星系扭曲的螺旋外觀很可能是由於它與近在咫尺的橢圓伴星系 NGC 770 的引力相互作用造成的,就在下面。 萁狀星系被編入 NGC 772 和 Arp 78 ,它的跨度超過 20 萬光年,在銀河系恆星之外 1 億光年的附近,在公羊座(白羊座)方向可以看到。 不過,在這張特寫圖片中,"小提琴頭 "似乎還有另一個伴星--一個有著長長的模糊尾巴的伴星:它就是 43 P/Wolf-Harrington 彗星。 雖然這顆彗星看似直指這個巨大的星系,但實際上它離我們更近,僅有幾分光的距離--就在我們的太陽系內。 這顆彗星永遠不會到達遙遠的螺旋星系,也與它沒有任何物理聯絡。 不過,幸運的是,這兩個宇宙奇觀在去年年底從法國卡倫拍攝的照片中短暫地出現在同一個畫面中。
原文:Why does this galaxy look like a curly vegetable? The Fiddlehead spiral galaxy likely gets its distorted spiral appearance from a gravitational interaction with its close-by elliptical companion NGC 770, seen just below. Cataloged as NGC 772 and Arp 78, the Fiddlehead spans over 200,000 light years, is a nearby 100 million light years beyond the stars of our Milky Way galaxy, and is visible toward the constellation of the Ram (Aries). But in the featured image, the Fiddlehead appears to have another companion -- one with a long and fuzzy tail: Comet 43P/Wolf-Harrington. Though the comet appears to be aimed straight at the massive galaxy, it is actually much closer to us, residing only light minutes away -- well within our Solar System. The comet will never reach the distant spiral galaxy, nor is it physically related to it. By a fortunate trick of perspective, though, these two cosmic wonders briefly share the same frame taken late last year from Calern, France.
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