Hubble captures a suspected galaxy encounter
UGC 3912 is classified as a spiral galaxy, but you wouldn’t know it from this detailed NASA Hubble Space Telescope image. UGC 3912’s distorted shape is typically indicative of a gravitational encounter with another galaxy. When galaxies interact—either brush up against each other’s gravitational fields or even collide—their stars, dust, and gas can be pulled into new paths. UGC 3912 might have once been an organized-looking spiral, but it looks like it’s been smudged out of shape by a giant thumb.
phys.org
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2024-02-01
