Rebel Galaxy

2002/03/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Astronomia

The image of the galaxy NGC 4266, received by the Hubble Telescope, surprises astronomers around the world. Common galaxies rotate behind stars and gas clouds.

But the galaxy NGC 4266 is special: on the one hand, it has a branch or arm that goes in the heart of the galaxy in the opposite direction to the galaxy and, on the other, two arms directed to the direction of rotation.

According to astronomers, this aspect is explained by ingesting another smaller galaxy. Thus, the center of the galaxy would still have remnants of the union, and the buzzing of the outer branches would be due to the forces of then.