ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope (VST) has produced a spectacular image of NGC 3314, a pair of spiral galaxies located in the direction of the Hydra I cluster.
This VST image shows NGC 3314A and NGC 3314B, a pair of overlapping spiral galaxies located in the constellation of Hydra. Image credit: ESO / VST / Iodice et al.
NGC 3314 consists of the spiral galaxy NGC 3314A in front of the spiral galaxy NGC 3314B.
“Don’t let the perspective fool you! They are, in fact, not interacting at all,” said Dr. Enrichetta Iodice from the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica and colleagues.
“The two galaxies, located between 117 and 140 million light-years away in the constellation of Hydra, are actually physically unrelated and only appear to overlap when viewed from Earth.”
“This unique alignment gives astronomers the opportunity to measure many properties of the galaxies, such as how dust absorbs starlight, and hence gain insight into their composition and evolution.”
“There is another hidden secret in this picture if you look closely at the lower right region,” they added.
“Beyond this stunning cosmic dance you will find a faint yellowish smudge, the signature of an ultra-diffuse galaxy.”
“Ultra-diffuse galaxies are objects as large as the Milky Way but with 100-1,000 times fewer stars.”
“These galaxies are extremely faint and lack star-forming gas, which makes them appear almost like a smudge in the night sky.”
Named UDG 32, this ultra-diffuse galaxy is one of the faintest and most spread out members of the Hydra I cluster (also known as Abell 1060).
“This image was taken as part of the VST Early-type Galaxy Survey (VEGAS), whose goal is to investigate very faint structures in galaxy clusters,” the astronomers said.
“Our study suggests that UDG 32 may have formed out of the filaments stemming from NGC 3314A, but more observations are needed to confirm this.”
The team’s results were published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
_____
Enrichetta Iodice et al. 2021. Formation of an ultra-diffuse galaxy in the stellar filaments of NGC 3314A: Caught in the act? A&A 652, L11; doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202141086
