Galactic Train Wreck
Sig11 005b

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

Observation • May 25th, 2011 • sig11-005b

sig11-005b

This image shows an example of colliding galaxies from a new photo atlas of galactic "train wrecks". The new image 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.

This image shows NGC 3448 and UGC 6016. 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 3448UGC 6012Arp 205
Type
Galaxy > Type > Interacting
Galaxy > Type > Irregular
Galaxy > Type > Spiral
Distance
78,000,000 Light Years
Redshift
0.004503

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

Astrometrics

Position (J2000)
RA =10h 54m 33.4s
Dec = 54° 18' 6.5"
Field of View
8.6 x 8.6 arcminutes
Orientation
North is 76.1° left of vertical