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. 2023 July 27 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. Galaxies in the River Image Credit & [3]License: CTIO/NOIRLab/DOE/NSF/AURA; R. Colombari, M. Zamani & D. de Martin ([4]NSF’s NOIRLab) Explanation: Large galaxies grow by eating small ones. [5]Even our own galaxy engages in a sort of galactic [6]cannibalism, absorbing small galaxies that are too close and are [7]captured by the Milky Way's gravity. In fact, the [8]practice is common in the universe and illustrated by this striking pair of interacting galaxies from the banks of the southern constellation [9]Eridanus, [10]The River. Located over 50 million light years away, the large, distorted spiral NGC 1532 is seen locked in a gravitational struggle with dwarf galaxy NGC 1531, a struggle the smaller galaxy [11]will eventually lose. Seen nearly edge-on, spiral NGC 1532 spans about 100,000 light-years. [12]The merging galaxies are captured in this sharp image from the Dark Energy Camera mounted on the National Science Foundation’s Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. The NGC 1532/1531 pair is thought to be similar to the well-studied system of face-on spiral and small companion [13]known as M51. Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space __________________________________________________________________ [14]< | [15]Archive | [16]Submissions | [17]Index | [18]Search | [19]Calendar | [20]RSS | [21]Education | [22]About APOD | [23]Discuss | [24]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [25]Robert Nemiroff ([26]MTU) & [27]Jerry Bonnell ([28]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [29]Specific rights apply. [30]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [31]ASD at [32]NASA / [33]GSFC [34]NASA Science Activation & [35]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2307/noirlab2321a_ngc1532.jpg 3. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 4. https://noirlab.edu/public/ 5. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/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. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160102.html 11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080619.html 12. https://noirlab.edu/public/news/noirlab2321/ 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220902.html 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230726.html 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 18. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 23. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=230727 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230728.html 25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 26. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 27. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 28. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 30. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 31. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 32. https://www.nasa.gov/ 33. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 34. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 35. http://www.mtu.edu/