The universe is huge and exciting. It is difficult to imagine how small the Earth is compared to the cosmic abyss. According to the most conservative assumptions of astronomers, there are 100 billion galaxies, and the Milky Way is just one of them. As for the Earth, there are 17 billion such planets in the Milky Way alone … and this is not counting others that are radically different from our planet. And among the galaxies that have become known to scientists today, there are very unusual …
In general, I am without much trust and with a fair amount of skepticism about such information. Firstly, we will never get there, and no one will fly to us from there, and in general, maybe everything there looks and does not happen exactly as we imagined here. And in general, now there may be something else in that place, because the light of these galaxies has just reached us.
But still, here are 25 interesting samples …
1. Messier 82
M82 is five times brighter than the Milky Way.
Messier 82 or simply M82 is a galaxy five times brighter than the Milky Way. This is due to the very rapid process of the birth of young stars in it - they appear 10 times more often than in our galaxy. Red plumes emanating from the center of the galaxy are glowing hydrogen, which is ejected from the center of M82.
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2. Sunflower Galaxy
The sunflower galaxy: like a painting by Vincent Van Gogh.
Formally known as Messier 63, this galaxy has been nicknamed the Sunflower because it looks like it came from a painting by Vincent Van Gogh. Its bright, sinuous "petals" are composed of newly formed blue-white giant stars.
3. MACS J0717
Cluster of galaxies MACS J071.
MACS J0717 is one of the strangest galaxies known to scientists. Technically, this is not one stellar object, but a cluster of galaxies - MACS J0717 formed by the collision of four other galaxies. Moreover, the collision process has been going on for more than 13 million years.
4. Messier 74
Messier 74 is a galaxy for Santa.
If Santa Claus had a favorite galaxy, it would clearly become Messier 74. Astronomers often remember about it during the Christmas holidays, because the galaxy is very similar to the Christmas wreath.
5. Galaxy Baby Boom
Every 2 hours is a new star.
About 12.2 billion light-years from Earth, the baby boom galaxy was discovered in 2008. She got her nickname due to the fact that new stars are born incredibly quickly in her - approximately every 2 hours.
For example, in the Milky Way, a new star appears every 36 days on average.
6. Milky Way
The galaxy we live in.
Our Milky Way Galaxy (which contains the solar system, and, accordingly, the Earth) is indeed one of the most remarkable galaxies known to scientists in the universe. It contains at least 100 billion planets and about 200-400 billion stars, some of which are among the oldest in the known universe.
7. IDCS 1426
Cluster of galaxies IDCS 1426.
Thanks to the cluster of galaxies IDCS 1426, today you can see what the universe was two-thirds younger than it is now. IDCS 1426 is the most massive galaxy cluster in the early Universe, with a mass of about 500 trillion Suns. The bright blue galactic core of gas is the result of the collision of galaxies in this cluster.
8. I Zwicky 18
I Zwicky 18 is the youngest known galaxy.
The dwarf blue galaxy I Zwicky 18 is the youngest known galaxy. Its age is only 500 million years (the age of the Milky Way is 12 billion years) and it is essentially in the state of an embryo. It is a giant cloud of cold hydrogen and helium.
9. NGC 6744
NGC 6744 is a large spiral galaxy.
NGC 6744 is a large spiral galaxy, which astronomers believe is one of the most similar to our Milky Way. The galaxy, located about 30 million light-years from Earth, has an elongated core and spiral arms surprisingly identical to the Milky Way.
10. NGC 6872
The galaxy known as NGC 6872 is the second largest spiral galaxy ever discovered by scientists. Many regions of active star formation were found in it. Since there is practically no free hydrogen left in NGC 6872 for the formation of stars, it "sucks" it from the neighboring galaxy IC 4970.
11. MACS J0416
4.3 billion light years from Earth.
Found 4.3 billion light-years from Earth, MACS J0416 looks more like some kind of light show at a trendy disco. In fact, behind the vibrant purple and pink colors is a colossal event - the collision of two galaxy clusters.
12. M60 and NGC 4647 are a galactic pair
Although gravitational forces pull most galaxies together, there is no evidence that this is the case with neighboring Messier 60 and NGC 4647.
However, there is also no evidence that they are moving away from each other. Like a couple who have lived together for a long time, these two galaxies continue to race side by side through the cold and dark space.
13. Messier 81
A spiral galaxy with a supermassive black hole.
Located near Messier 25, Messier 81 is a spiral galaxy with a supermassive black hole at its center and 70 million times the mass of the Sun. M81 is home to many short-lived but very hot blue stars.
The gravitational interaction with M82 caused plumes of hydrogen gas to stretch between both galaxies.
14. Galaxies-antennas
About 600 million years ago, the galaxies NGC 4038 and NGC 4039 crashed into each other, beginning to massively exchange stars and galactic matter. Because of their appearance, these galaxies are called antennas.
15. Sombrero Galaxy
One of the most popular galaxies.
The Sombrero Galaxy is one of the most popular among amateur astronomers. It got its name from the fact that, thanks to its bright core and large central bulge, it looks like this headdress.
16.2MASX J16270254 + 4328340
A fine mist composed of millions of stars.
This galaxy, diffuse in all images, is known under the rather complicated name 2MASX J16270254 + 4328340. As a result of the merger of two galaxies, a "fine mist consisting of millions of stars" was formed. It is believed that this "fog" is slowly dissipating as the galaxy's lifespan expires.
17. NGC 5793
Galaxy with masers.
Not too strange (although very beautiful) at first glance, the spiral galaxy NGC 5793 is better known for its rare phenomenon: masers. People are familiar with lasers that emit light in the visible spectrum, but few know about masers that emit light in the microwave.
18. Galaxy of the Triangle
Nebula NGC 604.
The photo shows the nebula NGC 604, located in one of the spiral arms of the galaxy Messier 33. More than 200 very hot stars heat the ionized hydrogen in this nebula, causing it to fluoresce.
19. NGC 2685
NGC 2685 is one of the rare types of galaxies.
Also sometimes called the spiral galaxy, NGC 2685 is located in the constellation Ursa Major. One of the first polar ring galaxies to be found, NGC 2685 has an outer ring of gas and stars orbiting the galactic poles, making it one of the rarest galaxies. Scientists still do not know what causes these polar rings to form.
20. Messier 94
A galaxy that looks like a hurricane.
Messier 94 looks like a terrible hurricane that was shot from orbit on Earth. This galaxy is surrounded by bright blue rings of actively forming stars.
21. Pandora's Cluster
A galaxy in chaos.
Formally known as Abell 2744, this galaxy has been nicknamed the Pandora Cluster due to a series of strange phenomena arising from the collision of several smaller galaxy clusters. Real chaos is going on in it.
22. NGC 5408
The Wrong Spy Galaxy.
Most galaxies have a majestic spiral or elliptical shape. However, about a quarter of galaxies "ignore" such common structures. They are known as irregular galaxies, and this group includes NGC 5408, an image of which was obtained by the Hubble telescope.
English astronomer John Frederick William Herschel discovered the irregular galaxy NGC 5408, located 16 million light years away in the constellation Centaurus, in June 1834.
Another sign of NGC 5408, confirming its "incorrectness", is an ultra-bright X-ray source called NGC 5408 X-1. These rare objects emit a mind-boggling amount of X-rays of enormous energy.
Astrophysicists consider them to be candidates for intermediate mass black holes. This hypothetical type of black hole has a significantly lower mass than the supermassive black holes found in galactic centers, but at the same time they are much heavier than black holes of stellar mass.
23. Whirlpool Galaxy
Whirlpool Galaxy.
The Whirlpool Galaxy, officially known as M51a or NGC 5194, is large enough and close to the Milky Way to be visible in the night sky even with binoculars. It was the first classified spiral galaxy and is of particular interest to scientists due to its interaction with the dwarf galaxy NGC 5195.
24. SDSS J1038 + 4849
The SDSS J1038 + 4849 galaxy cluster is one of the most attractive clusters ever found by astronomers. It looks like a real smiley in space. The eyes and nose are galaxies, and the curved mouth line is due to the effects of gravitational lensing.
2 5. NGC3314a and NGC3314b
Nearly colliding galaxies.
While these two galaxies look like they are colliding, this is actually an optical illusion. There are tens of millions of light years between them.