Three companions or a lens effect
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by stuwat
It looks like this galaxy is surrounded by three smaller ones. Could it be gravitational lensing effect instead?
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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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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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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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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.Posted
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by JeanTate
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by vllctsdrncrm
Will the Webb telescope have lens arcs, too?
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by ElisabethB moderator
I sure hope so ! 😉
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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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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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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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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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by mksakeesh
when looked from top it looks like a pyramid
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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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by Budgieye moderator
Yeah, you are probably right.
😃
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by Postman44
looks like the spaceship i built!!!~!!!@
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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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by vrooje admin, scientist
Wonder if we should start using the tag #compactgroup ?
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its probably just a nice coincidence....
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by Capella05 moderator
Just flagging as #no_lens to remove from collection.
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by remittancegirlgmail.com in response to vrooje's comment.
Thanks so much for the links!
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