Interacting Galaxies Arp 142 (NIRCam and MIRI Image)

Stsci_2024-124a_1024

stsci_2024-124a July 12th, 2024

Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, M. Marin (STScI); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

This “penguin party” is loud! The distorted spiral galaxy at center, the Penguin, and the compact elliptical galaxy at left, the Egg, are locked in an active embrace. A new near- and mid-infrared image from the James Webb Space Telescope, taken to mark its second year of science, shows that their interaction is marked by a faint upside-down U-shaped blue glow.

The pair, known jointly as Arp 142, made their first pass between 25 and 75 million years ago — causing “fireworks,” or new star formation, in the Penguin. In the most extreme cases, mergers can cause galaxies to form thousands of new stars per year, for a few million years. For the Penguin, research has shown that about 100 to 200 stars have formed per year. By comparison, our Milky Way galaxy (which is not interacting with a galaxy of the same size) forms roughly six to seven new stars per year.

This gravitational shimmy also remade the Penguin’s appearance. Its coiled spiral arms unwound, and gas and dust were pulled in an array of directions, like it was releasing confetti. It is rare for individual stars to collide when galaxies interact (space is vast), but galaxies’ mingling disrupts stars’ orbits.

Today, the Penguin’s galactic center looks like an eye set within a head, and the galaxy has prominent star trails that take the shape of a beak, backbone, and fanned-out tail. A faint, but prominent dust lane extends from its beak down to its tail.

Despite the Penguin appearing far larger than the Egg, these galaxies have approximately the same mass. This is one reason why the smaller-looking Egg hasn’t yet merged with the Penguin. (If one was less massive, it may have merged earlier.)

The oval Egg is filled with old stars, and little gas and dust, which is why it isn’t sending out “streamers” or tidal tails of its own and instead has maintained a compact oval shape. If you look closely, the Egg has four prominent diffraction spikes — the galaxy’s stars are so concentrated that it gleams.

Now, find the bright, edge-on galaxy at top right. It may look like a party crasher, but it’s not nearby. Cataloged PGC 1237172, it lies 100 million light-years closer to Earth. It is relatively young and isn’t overflowing with dust, which is why it practically disappears in Webb’s mid-infrared view.

The background of this image is overflowing with far more distant galaxies. This is a testament to the sensitivity and resolution of Webb’s infrared cameras.

Additional images of Arp 142 are available at left, under the Download Options, including a cropped image (like the one above) that features only near-infrared light, and a wider near-infrared field of view, which features an even greater number of distant galaxies.

Arp 142 lies 326 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Hydra.

Provider: Space Telescope Science Institute

Image Source: https://webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2024/news-2024-124

Curator: STScI, Baltimore, MD, USA

Image Use Policy: http://stsci.edu/copyright/

Image Details Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Arp 142
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Grouping > Pair

Distance Details Distance

Universescale3
326,000,000 light years
Stsci_2024-124a_128
 

Position Details Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 9h 37m 43.2s
DEC = 2° 45’ 34.2”
Orientation
North is 18.5° CW
Field of View
2.2 x 3.1 arcminutes
Constellation
Hydra

Color Mapping Details Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Blue Webb (NIRCam) Infrared 900.0 nm
Cyan Webb (NIRCam) Infrared 1.5 µm
Green Webb (NIRCam) Infrared 2.0 µm
Yellow Webb (NIRCam) Infrared 2.8 µm
Orange Webb (NIRCam) Infrared 3.6 µm
Red Webb (NIRCam) Infrared 4.4 µm
Orange Webb (MIRI) Infrared 7.7 µm
Red Webb (MIRI) Infrared 10.0 µm
Red Webb (MIRI) Infrared 150.0 µm
Spectrum_ir1
Blue
Cyan
Green
Yellow
Orange
Red
Orange
Red
Red
Stsci_2024-124a_1280
×
ID
2024-124a
Subject Category
C.5.5.1  
Subject Name
Arp 142
Credits
NASA, ESA, CSA, M. Marin (STScI); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)
Release Date
2024-07-12
Lightyears
326,000,000
Redshift
326,000,000
Reference Url
https://webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2024/news-2024-124
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
distance in lightyears
Facility
Webb, Webb, Webb, Webb, Webb, Webb, Webb, Webb, Webb
Instrument
NIRCam, NIRCam, NIRCam, NIRCam, NIRCam, NIRCam, MIRI, MIRI, MIRI
Color Assignment
Blue, Cyan, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red, Orange, Red, Red
Band
Infrared, Infrared, Infrared, Infrared, Infrared, Infrared, Infrared, Infrared, Infrared
Bandpass
Central Wavelength
900, 1500, 2000, 2770, 3560, 4440, 7700, 10000, 150000
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
2000.0
Reference Value
144.43016045735, 2.75949991781
Reference Dimension
4280.00, 5977.00
Reference Pixel
2145.85955046797, 3329.92895988037
Scale
-0.00000867794, 0.00000867794
Rotation
-18.52448173778
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
World Coordinate System resolved using PinpointWCS 0.9.2 revision 218+ by the Chandra X-ray Center
Creator (Curator)
STScI
URL
http://stsci.edu
Name
Space Telescope Science Institute Office of Public Outreach
Email
outreach@stsci.edu
Telephone
410-338-4444
Address
3700 San Martin Drive
City
Baltimore
State/Province
MD
Postal Code
21218
Country
USA
Rights
http://stsci.edu/copyright/
Publisher
STScI
Publisher ID
stsci
Resource ID
STSCI-J-p24124a-f-4280x5977.tif
Metadata Date
2024-07-12T12:14:47-04:00
Metadata Version
1.2
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×
Universescalefull
326,000,000 light years

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