More pictures of galaxies shaking arms, please, Hubble - March 03, 2009
The public has voted on where they want to aim the Hubble Space Telescope. Given a choice by the website for Hubble's Next Discovery -- You Decide, part of the International Year of Astronomy, nearly half of 140,000 voters picked an interacting pair of spiral galaxies, called Arp274. The close-knit galaxies look like they are shaking hands, according to some observers.
From Newswise science:
Hubble has shown that interacting galaxies are very photogenic because, under the relentless pull of gravity, they weave elegant twisted lanes of dust and stars, and brilliant blue clusters of newborn stars. The new picture of Arp 274 promises to reveal intriguing never-before-seen details in the galactic grand slam. The Hubble observations will be taken during the International Year of Astronomy's "100 Hours of Astronomy," taking place from April 2 - 5. The full-color galaxy image will be released publicly during that time.
Let's hope it isn't hit by satellite debris first.
