The Subaru Telescope captured a stellar bridge connecting two galaxies.
Astronomers utilizing the Japanese optical telescope "Subaru" have released a new image of the interacting galaxies NGC 5257 and NGC 5258. These galaxies are located 345 million light-years away from Earth, in the direction of the Virgo constellation.
2024-12-10 10:00:41https://naked-science.ru/community/1014880
NGC 5257 and NGC 5258 are roughly the same size and mass, so during the merger captured by the Subaru telescope, their original structures will be completely altered.
The image shows that the galaxies are actively interacting, with gravity pulling out some stars and gas, creating a unique stellar bridge.