Galaxy Zoo Talk

Three companions or a lens effect

  • stuwat by stuwat

    It looks like this galaxy is surrounded by three smaller ones. Could it be gravitational lensing effect instead?

    Posted

  • vrooje by vrooje admin, scientist

    I don't know whether this is a known #lens or not, but it's certainly an interesting configuration.

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  • vllctsdrncrm by vllctsdrncrm

    That's pretty neat.....maybe the life forms have figured out how to create suns to get more energy..or learned how to create universes ^.^ ... I love it! Sorry, I have an active imagination.

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  • hildeb by hildeb

    Odd. But wouldn't a lens create an arc, a ring or a double image? But the same image three times, and not exactly 120 deg spaced apart? Don't think so.

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  • vrooje by vrooje admin, scientist

    A lens can create an arc, ring or multiple images, but not always two images. The configuration of the lensed image(s) depends on the geometry and mass content of the system.

    For more information on lensing, here are some places to get started:

    The Wikipedia page is pretty decent
    This NASA page has some schematic diagrams as well as example images
    This page at Berkeley has many additional links at the end.

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  • JeanTate by JeanTate

    #overlap

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  • vllctsdrncrm by vllctsdrncrm

    Will the Webb telescope have lens arcs, too?

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  • ElisabethB by ElisabethB moderator

    I sure hope so ! 😉

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  • Zonix by Zonix

    It doesn't seem to have enough gravity to cause lensing. I think the center elliptical is larger. Some lensing can occur around many heavy galaxies that are close together, but this photo seems to not have enough of such galaxies. Lensing on a large scale is seen only very close to any black hole's event horizon. I don't see any lensing but they seem close enough to be merging.

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  • klmasters by klmasters scientist, admin

    Doesn't look like a lens to me either somehow. I will send it to a colleague who's much more of an expert than me to comment though.

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  • klmasters by klmasters scientist, admin

    If it is just a chance arrangement doesn't this just illustrate wonderfully how vast the universe is. 😃

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  • Budgieye by Budgieye moderator

    Lensed galaxies are usually a different colour to the centre one because they are further away. These are all the same colour, so therefore, the same distance.

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  • mksakeesh by mksakeesh

    when looked from top it looks like a pyramid

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  • klmasters by klmasters scientist, admin

    Budgieye - that's a great rule of thumb, but I would add a (scientifically cautious) "probably the same distance". 😃

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  • Budgieye by Budgieye moderator

    Yeah, you are probably right.

    😃

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  • Postman44 by Postman44

    looks like the spaceship i built!!!~!!!@

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  • drphilmarshall by drphilmarshall scientist

    This looks like a compact galaxy group to me - I agree with @Budgieye that the colours of the three little galaxies are too similar to the central galaxy, and the little ones are not distorted enough to have been lensed (as @hildeb and @vrooje said). It's interesting that the system is so symmetrical - but we've seen even lensier imposters before! Here are three: http://www.slac.stanford.edu/~pjm/GalaxyZoo/GalaxyZoo-WFPC2+SDSS-gallery_gimp.jpg

    It might be interesting to study these compact groups a bit more - some might be chance alignments along the line of sight ("constellations" of galaxies), but I think many are probably real. Could their compactness make them interesting places to study galaxy evolution?

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  • vrooje by vrooje admin, scientist

    Wonder if we should start using the tag #compactgroup ?

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  • tomangseesing by tomangseesing

    its probably just a nice coincidence....

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  • Capella05 by Capella05 moderator

    Just flagging as #no_lens to remove from collection.

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  • remittancegirlgmail.com by remittancegirlgmail.com in response to vrooje's comment.

    Thanks so much for the links!

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