All articles tagged with #tidal tails
Astronomers using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble traced a short gamma-ray burst (GRB 230906A) to a neutron-star merger inside a tiny dwarf galaxy, revealed by its placement in a long tidal tail; the finding shows such powerful explosions can occur in faint hosts and helps explain how heavy elements are dispersed into galactic outskirts.
The Hubble Space Telescope has captured images of 12 interacting galaxies with long "tidal tails" studded with young star clusters, resembling cosmic "strings of pearls." These tails are formed when the gravitational forces of interacting galaxies pull out their spiral arms, igniting intense star formation. Astronomers have identified 425 massive star clusters in these tails, each containing about a million young stars emitting ultraviolet light. The findings shed light on cluster formation efficiency and raise questions about the future of these modern clusters, which resemble ancient globular clusters in the Milky Way.
The Hubble Space Telescope has detected "string of pearls" star clusters in the tidal tails of 12 interacting galaxies, each containing about 1 million newborn stars per cluster. These clusters, formed as a result of gravitational forces during galaxy collisions, are very young, only 10 million years old, and are stretching for thousands of light-years. The discovery sheds light on the formation of stars and provides insight into the processes that regulate star formation, offering a glimpse into the distant past and the potential for new generations of stars to exist.
The James Webb Space Telescope captured an image of a mysterious question mark shape in deep space, which has gone viral on social media. However, experts explain that this phenomenon is a result of pareidolia, where the human brain perceives recognizable shapes in random patterns. The shape is likely formed by merging galaxies, a common occurrence in the universe, which can create tidal tails that appear curved. The image, showing the star forming cloud Herbig-Haro 46/47, provides valuable insights for scientists studying these processes.
Chinese astronomers using the FAST telescope have detected long tidal tails emerging from the galaxy pair Arp 269, consisting of a smaller irregular galaxy NGC 4485 and a larger barred spiral galaxy NGC 4490. The tails extend in both the south and north directions, reaching together a size of about 325,000 light years. The researchers suggest that the tails are the debris torn out from the NGC 4485 disk due to interaction with the NGC 4490 galaxy. The study also detected a collimated gas component pointing at a nearby dwarf galaxy known as KK 149, located about 160,000–200,000 light years away from NGC 4490.