Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Andromeda (And)  ·  Contains:  PGC 2146619  ·  PGC 8961  ·  PGC 8970
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Arp 273, Gary Imm
Arp 273, Gary Imm

Arp 273

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Arp 273, Gary Imm
Arp 273, Gary Imm

Arp 273

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Description

This object, the Rose Galaxy, is a pair of interacting grand design spiral galaxies located 300 million light years away in the constellation of Andromeda at a declination of +39 degrees. Each galaxy is about 2 arc-minutes wide and 150,000 light years in diameter. The Rose lies in a rich backdrop of bright Milky Way stars and dim distant galaxies.

Although the image looks delicate and peaceful to me, nothing could be further from the truth. The severe distortion of both galaxies reflect the intense gravitational forces at work. The top larger mag 13 galaxy (UGC 1810) has long spiral arms which have been tidally distorted into a helix type of shape. The central region of this galaxy has a classic grand design spiral shape, but the outer reaches of the arms deteriorate into a star stream mass which connect not only to each other but also to the galaxy below.

Like the top galaxy, the smaller bottom mag 15 galaxy (UGC 1813) has a distinct yellow core and two bluish distorted arms.

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