Medusa Merger: Hubble Captures Stunning Galaxy Collision | Astronomy – Sci-News.com
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured an amazing new photo of two merging galaxies collectively called NGC 4194.
This Hubble image shows NGC 4194, an ongoing cosmic collision between two galaxies. This picture was snapped by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). The image was made through four filters. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / A. Adamo.
NGC 4194 is a pair of merging galaxies located in the constellation of Ursa Major.
The duo is one of hundreds of interacting and merging galaxies known in the Universe
Also known as the Medusa merger, it is approximately 130 million light-years away from Earth.
A region of extreme star formation — the so-called Eye of Medusa — can be seen in the center of NGC 4194.
Located below the center, the ‘hair’ of the Medusa is a tidal tail formed by a collision between the galaxies.
NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory recently spotted a massive black hole in the right side of Medusa’s ‘hair.’
“An early galaxy consumed a smaller gas-rich system, throwing out streams of stars and dust out into space,” the Hubble astronomers said.
“These streams resemble the writhing snakes that Medusa, a monster in ancient Greek mythology, famously had on her head in place of hair, lending the object its intriguing name.”
“The legend of Medusa also held that anyone who saw her face would transform into stone.”
“In this case, you can feast your eyes without fear on the center of the merging galaxies, a region known as Medusa’s Eye.”
“All the cool gas pooling here has triggered a burst of star formation, causing it to stand out brightly against the dark cosmic backdrop.”
