                  APOD: 2018 May 10 - Galaxies in the River

                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! [1] Each day a different image or photograph of our
 fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a
                           professional astronomer.

                                  2018 May 10
                                      [2]
                            Galaxies in the River
 Image Credit & Copyright [3] : Michel Meunier, Laurent Bernasconi, Janus Team
                                      [4]

Explanation: Large galaxies grow by eating small ones. Even our own [5]
galaxy practices galactic cannibalism [6] , absorbing small galaxies that get
too close and are captured [7]  by the Milky Way's gravity. In fact, the
practice is common [8] in the universe and illustrated by this striking pair
of interacting galaxies from the banks of the southern constellation Eridanus
[9] , The River [10] . Located over 50 million light years away, the large,
distorted spiral NGC 1532 is seen locked in a gravitational struggle [11]
with dwarf galaxy NGC 1531 (right of center), a struggle the smaller galaxy
will eventually lose [12] . Seen edge-on, spiral NGC 1532 spans about 100,000
light-years. Nicely detailed in this sharp image, the NGC 1532/1531 pair is
thought to be similar to the well-studied system of face-on spiral and small
companion known as M51 [13] .

                      Tomorrow's picture: blue skies [14]

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    Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff [26] (MTU [27] ) & Jerry Bonnell [28]
                                  (UMCP [29] )
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                           & Michigan Tech. U. [35]
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Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] image/1805/NGC1532Meunier2048.jpg
  [3] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [4] https://www.facebook.com/JanusTeamNordSud/
  [5] ap050529.html
  [6] http://www.cosmotography.com/images/galaxy_cannibalism.html
  [7] http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0407566
  [8] https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2017/
hubble-catches-a-galaxy-duo-by-the-hare
  [9] http://www.hawastsoc.org/deepsky/eri/index.html
  [10] ap160102.html
  [11] http://burro.cwru.edu/JavaLab/GalCrashWeb/
  [12] ap080619.html
  [13] ap150502.html
  [14] ap180511.html
  [15] ap180509.html
  [16] archivepix.html
  [17] lib/apsubmit2015.html
  [18] lib/aptree.html
  [19] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  [20] calendar/allyears.html
  [21] /apod.rss
  [22] lib/edlinks.html
  [23] lib/about_apod.html
  [24] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=180510
  [25] ap180511.html
  [26] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  [27] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  [28] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  [29] http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  [30] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [31] https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  [32] https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  [33] https://www.nasa.gov/
  [34] https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  [35] http://www.mtu.edu/
