Among Friends: Arp188 and 200+ others, Vivian Budnik

Among Friends: Arp188 and 200+ others

Acquisition type: Electronically-Assisted Astronomy (EAA, e.g. based on a live video feed)
Among Friends: Arp188 and 200+ others, Vivian Budnik

Among Friends: Arp188 and 200+ others

Acquisition type: Electronically-Assisted Astronomy (EAA, e.g. based on a live video feed)

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Description

From the Hubble Telescope Archives: I processed this amazing galaxy. I could count over 200 other galaxies surrounding it in the image. Just amazing! Wikipedia mentions, however, that there are 6,000 galaxies in this area.

Arp188 is also called the "Tadpole Galaxy" because of its long tail (280,000 light years long). Arp188 is in the constellation Draco. It is a barred spiral galaxy that has been distorted by interaction with a smaller galaxy, an event thought to have happened about 100 million years ago. Just imagine: the earth was in the Cretaceous period, and inhabited by dinosaurs. The presumed interloper galaxy can be seen in the bottom right quarter of the galaxy, and produced the distortion of Arp188, including its long tail, formed by debris of stars and gasses.

This image was taken by the Hubble Telescope's ACS camera in 2002; project hst 8992

Filters used: f814w (used as red); f606w (used as green); f475w (used as blue)

Processing software: Mostly PixInsight 1.8; Final touches Adobe Photoshop and Light Room CS



ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, and obtained from the Hubble Legacy Archive, which is a collaboration between the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI/NASA), the Space Telescope European Coordinating Facility (ST-ECF/ESA) and the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre (CADC/NRC/CSA).

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Among Friends: Arp188 and 200+ others, Vivian Budnik