UGC 1810: Wildly Interacting Galaxy from Hubble
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble, HLA; Processing & Copyright: Domingo Pestana
Explanation: What's happening to this spiral galaxy? Although details remain uncertain, it surely has to do with an ongoing battle with its smaller galactic neighbor. The
featured galaxy is labelled UGC 1810 by itself, but together with its
collisional partner is known as
Arp 273. The overall shape of the UGC 1810 -- in particular its
blue outer ring -- is likely a result of wild and
violent gravitational interactions. This ring's blue color is caused by massive stars that are
blue hot and have formed only in the past few million years. The
inner galaxy appears older, redder, and threaded with cool
filamentary dust. A few bright
stars appear well in the foreground, unrelated to
UGC 1810, while several galaxies are visible well in the background.
Arp 273 lies about 300 million light years away
toward the constellation of Andromeda. Quite likely, UGC 1810 will
devour its
galactic sidekick over the next billion years and settle into a classic
spiral form.
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