Hubble Space Telescope Captures Unusual Galaxy Merger

You are undoubtedly familiar with galaxies, such as the Milky Way Galaxy, of which we are a part. But did you realize that millions of them are floating around our universe like ghosts?

In the distant universe, an extraordinary galaxy merger was recently photographed by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope (HST).

The Hubble Space Telescope, NASA’s stalwart flying astronomical observatory, never misses an opportunity to astound everyone with its incredibly unusual and fascinating findings. As we know, not everyone can witness those interstellar events in person but someone can bring them to our doorsteps.

During its survey of “intriguing targets,” the Hubble Space Telescope captured the picture to find potential James Webb Space Telescope (Successor of HST) follow-up prospects for more in-depth observations.

We are grateful for the Hubble Space Telescope’s incredible capabilities, which allowed us to observe these peculiar phenomena. The amazing image, according to NASA, shows the galaxy merger Arp-Madore 417-391.

What Is Arp-Madore?

According to NASA, the Arp-Madore catalog is a collection of especially strange galaxies scattered throughout the southern sky, and it includes both modestly interacting galaxies and more spectacular colliding galaxies.

This merger of two galaxies Arp-Madore 417-391, which is about a 671million light-years away in the constellation Eridanus, is one such galactic interaction in the southern celestial hemisphere.

These Galaxies Merged, But How?

According to the space agency, these galaxies underwent incredible gravitational distortion before being twisted into a massive ring, leaving their centers nestled next to one another.

Arp-Madore 417-391 resembles a ring galaxy, which accounts for fewer than 0.1% of all known galaxies. The best-renowned ring galaxy is Hoag’s object. Instead of the arms of a typical spiral galaxy, ring galaxies feature a distinct ring structure, as the name suggests.

Astronomers are still arguing how these galaxies arise, although galaxy mergers are thought to be a viable possibility.

Are You Familiar With The Hubble Space Telescope?

In 1990, the space shuttle Discovery launched and deployed NASA’s HST, a technological marvel for its time. In the course of its existence, it has recorded almost 1.5 million observations.

Hubble’s discoveries proved the existence of black holes in galaxy centers, assessed the composition of exoplanet atmospheres, discovered the most distant galaxies to yet, and revealed the universe’s accelerating expansion – a 2011 Nobel Prize-winning physics discovery.

NASA stated, it was intended to operate for around 15 years but after undergoing a few successful modifications, so the telescope is still useful for science today.

This incredible view was captured by Hubble using its unique Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) instrument, which is designed to look for galaxies and galaxy clusters in the early cosmos and engaged in measuring the dispersion of dark matter.

In short, Hubble determines primeval galaxies and discovers new insights into the evolution of the universe.

Just Check and share the result: What Did Hubble See on Your Birthday?

Why Is A Space Telescope Necessary?

To study the universe in visible, ultraviolet, and infrared spectrums, Hubble was built as a multipurpose observatory. The fluctuating air pockets that makeup Earth’s atmosphere are what give stars in the night sky their sparkling appearance. This motion distorts images captured by ground-based telescopes. To avoid these effects, Hubble was put into an orbit above the atmosphere, adding incredible clarity to space images. The telescope has examined almost 40,000 cosmic objects to date, providing scientists with views they couldn’t see from the ground.

Hubble was able to reduce the age of the universe from a range of 10 to 20 billion years to a more precise estimate of 13.8 billion years, which is currently used to comprehend the evolution of stars, galaxies, and other objects.

Social Effects Of The Hubble Telescope

Hubble has helped researchers better comprehend the solar system, planets, as well as comets, as observed using the telescope. Unseen moons around Pluto were detected by Hubble. The telescope has aided scientists’ understanding of how planets and galaxies form.

One of its more startling findings was the realization that the universe’s expansion is accelerating due to the presence of an unexplained and previously undiscovered “dark energy.” Hubble has frequently demonstrated to humanity how much more there is to learn about the cosmos thanks to its capacity to send clear photos of the universe to Earth.

After discovering that the cosmos was expanding, Hubble’s studies on galaxies shocked astronomers and eventually inspired the Big Bang theory for the origin of the universe.

Hubble Space Telescope Vs James Webb Space Telescope

The Hubble Space Telescope has provided humanity with a distinctive view of the universe since its launch in 1990. Hubble has sparked our curiosity for more than 30 years and fueled our ambition to study more and explore further and deeper. Despite being optimized for shorter ultraviolet and visible wavelengths of light, Hubble can observe in the near-infrared.

With the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope in December 2021 by NASA in collaboration with the ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency), we may now observe objects beyond the Deep Field of the Hubble Space Telescope. It is the largest and most technologically advanced telescope ever built, and its deeper infrared views enable it to study distant exoplanet atmospheres in greater detail, potentially discovering the building elements of life elsewhere in the universe.

Together, the reflecting telescopes Hubble and Webb make up a powerful pair of astronomical observatories. James Webb orbits the Sun with Earth at a distance of about one million miles near Lagrange point L2, while Hubble orbits Earth barely above the atmosphere (332 miles or 535 km above Earth).

Building on the research of astronomer Edwin Hubble and the telescope bearing his name, Webb’s observations will help us comprehend how galaxies change over billions of years.

Wish to know more? Visit the James Webb Space Telescope project .

Space, Waiting To Be Explored

Space is so enormous that even light takes a long time to cross the large distances between objects. When we gaze up at the Moon in the sky, we see it as it appeared 1.3 seconds ago because the light from Earth’s Moon takes around 1.3 light seconds to reach us.

Hubble can view galaxies as they were billions of years ago by capturing the dim light of the early universe, allowing us to study how galaxies originated and evolved.

The cosmos is still full of surprises. There are still more puzzles to solve and revelations to make. The marvels of the universe, both close and far, are delivered to us through a telescope that expands humanity’s vision beyond Earth.