February 28, 2009
Galaxies were colliding long before you were born, and they will keep colliding long after us all.
NGC 2442: Galaxy in Volans
Birthday · February 28, 2009
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APOD published February 28, 2009. Credit: Martin Pugh. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Distorted galaxy NGC 2442 can be found in the southern constellation of the flying fish, (Piscis) Volans. Located about 50 million light-years away, the galaxy's two spiral arms extending from a pronounced central bar give it a hook-shaped appearance. This deep color image also shows the arms' obscuring dust lanes, young blue star clusters and reddish star forming regions surrounding a core of yellowish light from an older population of stars. But the star forming regions seem more concentrated along the drawn-out (right side) spiral arm. The distorted structure is likely the result of an ancient close encounter with the smaller galaxy seen near the top left of this field of view. The two interacting galaxies are separated by about 150,000 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 2442.
Image credit: Martin Pugh