Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2020 October 18

               UGC 1810: Wildly Interacting Galaxy from Hubble
    Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble, HLA; Processing & Copyright: Domingo
                                   Pestana

   Explanation: What's happening to this spiral galaxy? Although details
   remain uncertain, it surely has to do with an ongoing battle with its
   smaller galactic neighbor. The featured galaxy is labelled UGC 1810 by
   itself, but together with its collisional partner is known as Arp 273.
   The overall shape of UGC 1810 -- in particular its blue outer ring --
   is likely a result of wild and violent gravitational interactions. This
   ring's blue color is caused by massive stars that are blue hot and have
   formed only in the past few million years. The inner galaxy appears
   older, redder, and threaded with cool filamentary dust. A few bright
   stars appear well in the foreground, unrelated to UGC 1810, while
   several galaxies are visible well in the background. Arp 273 lies about
   300 million light years away toward the constellation of Andromeda.
   Quite likely, UGC 1810 will devour its galactic sidekick over the next
   billion years and settle into a classic spiral form.

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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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