The picture "Arp 188 and the Tadpole's Tidal Tail" gives a great example of the enormous size of galaxies, and the way in which they are constantly interacting with each other. The tadpole galaxy is the focus of this picture, as it peculiar shape is of interest. The galaxy's tail stretches outside of its spiral, over 280,000 lightyears long. Scientists believe that the cause of this long tail was the gravitational pull of another galaxy passing by it. The idea of galaxy's interacting in that way is extremely interesting, as the passing of a single galaxy completely changed the structure of Arp 188, turning it into the "tadpole" that we see today. The passing galaxy tore massive pieces from the galaxy, and makes me wonder whether it through many of the solar systems within Arp 188 into chaos. It would be interesting to study the effects a galaxy passing through another galaxy has.
Friday, October 1, 2010
APOD 1.5
The picture "Arp 188 and the Tadpole's Tidal Tail" gives a great example of the enormous size of galaxies, and the way in which they are constantly interacting with each other. The tadpole galaxy is the focus of this picture, as it peculiar shape is of interest. The galaxy's tail stretches outside of its spiral, over 280,000 lightyears long. Scientists believe that the cause of this long tail was the gravitational pull of another galaxy passing by it. The idea of galaxy's interacting in that way is extremely interesting, as the passing of a single galaxy completely changed the structure of Arp 188, turning it into the "tadpole" that we see today. The passing galaxy tore massive pieces from the galaxy, and makes me wonder whether it through many of the solar systems within Arp 188 into chaos. It would be interesting to study the effects a galaxy passing through another galaxy has.
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