Hubble Space Telescope captures galactic ‘dancing duo’

Context

Hubble telescope captured a "dancing duo" of galaxies interlocked in a "gravitation dance." The two galaxies are officially known as NGC 3227, a spiral galaxy, and NGC 3226, an elliptical galaxy.

About

Key Findings:

In a significant development, NASA has discovered a huge spiral galaxy that has been named NGC 3227.
According to NASA, this galaxy is wrapped in a “gravitational dance”, along with NGC 3226, believed to be an elliptical galaxy.
The two galaxies have been collectively called Arp 94.
Both galaxies are nearly 50 and 60 million light-years from Earth and are located in the constellation Leo.
The pair of galaxies is linked with faint tidal streams of gas and dust in its dance.
The space agency has further discovered that NGC 3227 is the Seyfert Galaxy.
This type of galaxy consists of a supermassive black hole at the centre and is an accrete metal which releases large amounts of radiation.
It is estimated that about 10 per cent of all galaxies may be Seyfert galaxies.

Why is Hubble observing these galaxies?

Hubble was looking at NGF 3227 and 3226 as part of a program to measure black hole masses by observing the dynamics of gas at the centers of bright galaxy clusters.
At the time, Hubble was observing the two galaxies to measure black hole masses.
Hubble assessed the dynamics of gas at the centre of bright galaxy clusters.
Currently, scientists are attempting to understand why galaxies in the universe are either star-forming powerhouses or devoid of any star-forming activity.
- Young galaxies that form stars are usually spiral shaped, like our own Milky Way.
- Elliptical galaxies are older galaxies with no star-making capabilities.
The NGC 3226 is currently in a transition stage, stuck in the middle of this life-cycle.
- Scientists want to understand how a life-giving galaxy slips into a lifeless lull over time.

Hubble Space Telescope

It is named after the astronomer Edwin Hubble.
The observatory is the first major optical telescope to be placed in space and has made ground-breaking discoveries in the field of astronomy since its launch (into Low Earth orbit in 1990).
It is said to be the “most significant advance in astronomy since Galileo’s telescope.”
It is a part of NASA's Great Observatories Program - a family of four space-based observatories, each observing the Universe in a different kind of light.
The other missions in the program include the visible-light Spitzer Space Telescope, Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory (CGRO), and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory (CXO).