What is this
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The spiral in the center is very distorted but by what? Is this some kind of collision? I don't see any evidence of the nucleus of another spiral but there are two large blue clumps. The clump (C1) to the left of the nucleus, and clump (C2) below the nucleus. The possibilities I have thought of are:
- Could this galaxy have created two star-forming regions C1 and C2 that are massive and dense enough to have distorted the parent galaxy?
- Could this have been the collision with C2 which is an irregular or a blue elliptical (if there is such a thing) galaxy?
- Could this be a collision with C1 which was a direct hit i.e. perpendicular to the plane of the spiral, and are we seeing the beginning of a ring galaxy?
- Could this be a 3-way collision between the spiral and C1 and C2?
- Or something else entirely?
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by Capella05 moderator in response to bernoullilemniscate's comment.
I don't think it is a merger - but rather a young galaxy with loads of star formation. The spectra (you can view it on SkyServer) has it flagged as a starburst galaxy.
With young spiral galaxies (proto-spirals) it is not unusual for the galaxy to look disturbed while it is still settling into a more stable pattern.
Here is your image in colour:
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by bernoullilemniscate in response to Capella05's comment.
Thanks, "young" galaxies are something I've never studied
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