Astronomy Picture of the Day 9-09-02

NASA ^ | 9-09-02 | Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell

[petuniasevan]

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2002 September 9

Hoag's Object: A Strange Ring Galaxy
Credit: R. Lucas (STScI/AURA), Hubble Heritage Team, NASA

Explanation: Is this one galaxy or two? This question came to light in 1950 when astronomer Art Hoag chanced upon this unusual extragalactic object. On the outside is a ring dominated by bright blue stars, while near the center lies a ball of much redder stars that are likely much older. Between the two is a gap that appears almost completely dark. How Hoag's Object formed remains unknown, although similar objects have now been identified and collectively labeled as a form of ring galaxy. Genesis hypotheses include a galaxy collision billions of years ago and perturbative gravitational interactions involving an unusually shaped core. The above photo taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in July 2001 reveals unprecedented details of Hoag's Object and may yield a better understanding. Hoag's Object spans about 100,000 light years and lies about 600 million light years away toward the constellation of Serpens. Coincidentally, visible in the gap (at about one o'clock) is yet another ring galaxy that likely lies far in the distance.

[petuniasevan]

Astronomy Fun Fact:

As far as we can tell, certain unusual galactic classes involve some sort of collision or interaction. Such encounters are not all that rare. The results vary, though. There are so many factors involved. Sure makes for some cosmic scenery, though!

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[petuniasevan]

[MeekOneGOP]

Mother Nature doin' a great job, eh?

[2Trievers]

Awe inspiring! &;-)

[BlessedAmerican]

WOW and double WOW!!! Your posts are awe inspiring every morning...Thanks for the ping...

[mikrofon]

Great catch, as always!

So this might be called a "Hoagy", eh? ... looks more like a donut ;^)

[BossyRoofer]

Very beautiful! Looks like some type of black hole influence. Good work APOD!

[SuziQ]

That is such a NEAT picture! Does anyone know of a book, kind of like a 'coffee-table' book that would include pictures like this from Hubble? It would be a fun resource when we study Astronomy!

[sleavelessinseattle]

These Collisions are INDEED not that rare...Its my understanding that there is a matter stream trailing out of our own Milky Way Home galaxy that is evidence that we have passed through another galaxy at some time in the past.
And of course, there is our rendesvous with Andromeda in only 300million years to anticipate...Who's driving the Bus??? Mr Magoo?

[petuniasevan]

Visions of Heaven: The Mysteries of the Universe Revealed by the Hubble Space Telescope

Hubble Vision: Further Adventures With the Hubble Space Telescope

Hubble Space Telescope: New Views of the Universe

A Journey Through Time: Exploring the Universe With the Hubble Space Telescope

[prophetic]

well this just proves that there was no Big Bang.

This is proof that God was smoking and just blew this one just for the fun of it to baffle astronomers :-)

[WRhine]

And of course, there is our rendesvous with Andromeda in only 300million years to anticipate...

Actually I believe the estimated time for this titantic collision of galaxies is more like 2 billion years. Andromedia is larger than our Milky Way but from what I have read, the MM contains more matter. Should be interesting. Now if I could only live a few billion more years.

[sleavelessinseattle]

One of my favorite ethnic myths is told by the people of Georgia in the former Soviet State...

that Allah was walking one morning with his breakfast on a plate and he was so large that he stubbed his toe on the Caucasus Mountain range and spilled his breakfast over Georgia and that is why they have such a unique and wonderful cuisine to this day...Why the jihadji's have to pervert a historically tolerant quaint religion into a fundamentalist death cult and political movement is a mystery that I'd love to solve before any more innocents have to bleed out in the streets.

[sleavelessinseattle]

Thanks! I may have crossed the size or velocity significant digits with the time to collision...I tried to check on that figure in the messier catalogue site and they didn't even MENTION that we're headed for it!:-( I'd love to see it too WR! But I'd settle for pod racing on MARS! Is that too much to ask?

[WRhine]

Thanks! I may have crossed the size or velocity significant digits with the time to collision...I tried to check on that figure in the messier catalogue site and they didn't even MENTION that we're headed for it!:-( I'd love to see it too WR! But I'd settle for pod racing on MARS! Is that too much to ask?

I got the 2 billion number from Space.com. It was only a year or so ago that I learned we are on a collision course with Andromedia. At the time I thought it was an accepted fact that all the galaxies were flying away from each other at near warp speed. Of course, there will be a new story tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Oh and pod racing on Mars sounds real cool. Then again anything on Mars is cool.

[SuziQ]

Well, aren't you just the sweetest thing!! I could have done my own search, but you've done it for me!! Now I'll have to decide just how much money to invest in our homeschool 'Astronomy' books. Sir Suzi Q has already decided we're getting a REALLY GOOD telescope; he wanted an excuse to get one, and now he has it!