It’s a cosmic battle of the bands today as the Hubble Space Telescope brings us a stunning image of colliding galaxies forming the shape of a vast guitar.
What is it?
Good luck restringing this cosmic collision, fittingly nicknamed “the Guitar.” The colliding elliptical galaxy (NGC 3561B) and a spiral galaxy (NGC 3561A) of Arp 105 have a “tidal tail” of gas, dust, and stars that stretch out 362,000 light-years.
Unfortunately, this tidal tail doesn’t plug into a cosmic amp, so we will never know if these galaxies are playing Starman by David Bowie or Supermassive Black Hole by Muse!
Where is it?
The galaxies in question are collectively known as Arp 105, situated in a chaotic and crowded galaxy cluster Abell 1185, located around 400 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major.
Why is it amazing?
The gravitational mosh pit created by these colliding galaxies is packed with fascinating features, such as a long and dark channel of dust emerging from NGC 3561B. This channel links to a bright blue area of star formation on the base of the cosmic guitar called “Ambartsumian’s Knot.”
This is a tidal dwarf galaxy, a type of star-forming system known to develop in the debris of tidal arms smashed up merging galaxies. It is possible that the dust channel could be feeding Ambartsumian’s Knot with the raw material for star formation.
Other tendrils of gas and dust can be seen stretching between these merging galaxies, which astronomers could use to determine just how long NGC 3561B and NGC 3561A have been making sweet music together.
Want to know more?
NGC 3561B and NGC 3561A are amazing but are only two out of hundreds billions in the observable universe, according to NASA.
To learn more about what galaxies are, the different types and how they form, check out our galaxies reference guide. For more news stories about galaxies like these, follow our galaxies coverage or our stories on the Hubble telescope and its discoveries.
