Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]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. 2022 November 8 [2]The featured image shows a several interacting spiral galaxies with a bridge of stars and gas connecting the two brightest galaxies. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. Galaxies: Wild's Triplet from Hubble Image Credit: [3]ESA/[4]Hubble, [5]NASA, [6]Dark Energy Survey/[7]DOE/[8]FNAL/[9]DECam/[10]CTIO/[11]NOIRLab/[12]NSF/[13]AURA, [14]J. Dalcanton Explanation: How many galaxies are interacting here? This grouping of galaxies is called the [15]Wild Triplet, not only for the [16]discoverer, but for the number of bright galaxies that appear. It had been assumed that all three galaxies, collectively cataloged as [17]Arp 248, are [18]interacting, but more [19]recent investigations reveal that only the brightest two galaxies are sparring gravitationally: the big galaxies at the top and bottom. The [20]spiral galaxy in the middle of the [21]featured image by the [22]Hubble Space Telescope is actually far in the distance, as is the galaxy just below it and all of the other [23]numerous galaxies in the field. A striking result of these [24]giants jousting is a tremendous [25]bridge of stars, gas, and [26]dust that stretches between them -- a bridge almost 200,000 [27]light-years long. Light we see today from Wild's Triplet left about [28]200 million years ago, when [29]dinosaurs roamed the Earth. In perhaps a billion years or so, the [30]two interacting galaxies will merge to form a [31]single large spiral galaxy. Tomorrow's picture: nebular mystery __________________________________________________________________ [32]< | [33]Archive | [34]Submissions | [35]Index | [36]Search | [37]Calendar | [38]RSS | [39]Education | [40]About APOD | [41]Discuss | [42]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [43]Robert Nemiroff ([44]MTU) & [45]Jerry Bonnell ([46]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [47]Specific rights apply. [48]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [49]ASD at [50]NASA / [51]GSFC, [52]NASA Science Activation & [53]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2211/WildTriplet_Hubble_3623.jpg 3. https://www.esa.int/ 4. https://esahubble.org/ 5. https://www.nasa.gov/ 6. https://www.darkenergysurvey.org/ 7. https://www.energy.gov/ 8. https://www.fnal.gov/ 9. https://news.fnal.gov/tag/decam/ 10. https://noirlab.edu/public/programs/ctio/ 11. https://noirlab.edu/ 12. https://www.nsf.gov/ 13. https://www.aura-astronomy.org/ 14. https://www.simonsfoundation.org/people/julianne-dalcanton/ 15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild's_Triplet 16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Wild_(Australian_scientist) 17. https://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Arp/Arp_contents.html 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130514.html 19. https://i.insider.com/55a67a7a371d22ce178b6624 20. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_galaxy 21. https://esahubble.org/images/potw2244a/ 22. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/story/index.html 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210802.html 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap211004.html 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190325.html 26. https://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/d/Dust+Grain 27. https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/light-year/en/ 28. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_evolutionary_history_of_life#Mesozoic_Era 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap171007.html 30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220606.html 31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120717.html 32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap221107.html 33. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 34. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 35. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 36. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 37. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 38. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 39. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 40. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 41. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=221108 42. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap221109.html 43. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 44. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 45. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 46. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 47. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 48. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 49. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 50. https://www.nasa.gov/ 51. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 52. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 53. http://www.mtu.edu/