Hubble sets its sights on the ‘Angel Wing’ galactic merger

The Hubble Space Telescope is the gift that keeps on giving. The venerable telescope captured a beautiful photo of a pair of merging galaxies in the VV689 system. The merging galaxies are nicknamed the ‘Angel Wing.’ The European Space Agency (ESA), which collaborates with NASA on Hubble, said, ‘Unlike chance alignments of galaxies which only appear to overlap as seen from our vantage point on Earth, the two galaxies in VV689 are in the midst of a collision. The galactic interaction has left the VV689 system almost completely symmetrical, giving the impression of a vast set of galactic wings.’

The image seen below comes from new Hubble observations that inspect highlights from the ongoing Galaxy Zoo Citizen Science Project. The crowdsourced astronomy project has enlisted hundreds of thousands of civilian volunteers to help astronomers work through huge datasets compiled by autonomous telescopes. Volunteers have discovered many strange and unusual types of galaxies, some of which had never previously been observed. Another ongoing volunteer-driven project, Radio Galaxy Zoo, has volunteers trying to locate supermassive black holes in the far reaches of space.

‘Two merging galaxies in the VV689 system – nicknamed the Angel Wing -feature in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.’

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, W. Keel. Acknowledgment: J. Schmidt

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As volunteers make exciting discoveries, Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys follows up. Keeping in the spirit of the crowdsourced projects, subjects for further investigation are determined through voting. The VV689 system was one such selection.

(Via Space)