Galactic Train Wrecks
Sig11 005

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/L. Lanz (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA)

Observation • May 25th, 2011 • sig11-005

sig11-005

This montage shows three examples of colliding galaxies from a new photo atlas of galactic "train wrecks." The new images combine observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, which observes infrared light, and NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) spacecraft, which observes ultraviolet light. By analyzing information from different parts of the light spectrum, scientists can learn much more than from a single wavelength alone, because different components of a galaxy are highlighted.

The panel at far left shows NGC 470 (top) and NGC 474 (bottom); at top right are NGC 3448 and UGC 6016; at bottom right are NGC 935 and IC 1801. In this representative-color image, far-ultraviolet light from GALEX is blue, 3.6-micron light from Spitzer is cyan, 4.5-micron light from Spitzer is green, and red shows light at 5.8 and 8 microns from Spitzer.

About the Object

Name
NGC 470NGC 474Arp 227NGC 3448UGC 6012Arp 205NGC 935IC 1801Arp 276
Type
Galaxy > Type > Interacting
Galaxy > Type > Spiral

Color Mapping

Band Wavelength Telescope
UV 150 nm GALEX FUV
Infrared 3.6 µm Spitzer IRAC
Infrared 4.5 µm Spitzer IRAC
Infrared 5.8 µm Spitzer IRAC
Infrared 8.0 µm Spitzer IRAC