The Hubble team has released a stunning image of two interacting galaxies collectively known as Arp-Madore 608-333.
This Hubble image shows the galaxy pair Arp-Madore 608-333. The color image is composed of near-infrared and optical observations from Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the Victor M. Blanco 4-m Telescope. Four filters were used to sample various wavelengths. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Dark Energy Survey / DOE / FNAL / DECam / CTIO / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / J. Dalcanton.
This galaxy duo is catalogued as Arp-Madore 608-333 (AM 608-333) in the Arp-Madore Catalogue of Southern Peculiar Galaxies and Associations.
Located in the constellation of Columba, it consists of two spiral galaxies: ESO 364-35 (left) and ESO 364-36 (right).
“Though ESO 364-35 and ESO 364-36 appear serene and unperturbed, the two are subtly warping one another through a mutual gravitational interaction that is disrupting and distorting both galaxies,” Hubble astronomers said.
The pair was captured as part of an effort to build up an archive of interesting targets for more detailed future study with Hubble, ground-based telescopes, and the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope.
To build up this archive, the astronomers scoured existing astronomical catalogues for a list of targets spread throughout the night sky.
By so doing, they hoped to include objects that had already been identified as interesting and that would be easy for Hubble to observe no matter which direction it was pointing.
“Deciding how to award Hubble observing time is a drawn-out, competitive and difficult process, and the observations are allocated so as to use every last second of Hubble time available,” they explained.
“However, there is a small but persistent fraction of time — around 2-3% — that goes unused as Hubble turns to point at new targets.”
“Snapshot programs, such as the one which captured Arp-Madore 608-333, exist to fill this gap and take advantage of the moments between longer observations.”
“As well as creating beautiful images such as this, these snapshot programs enable us to gather as much data as possible with Hubble.”
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