Line-of-sight or they really are close to each other?

• by chickweed

  How can these galaxies appear to be so close yet not be interacting? It is surely too much of a co-incidence for them to be the same size and colour if they are not really close to each other but are just in our line of sight?

  Posted November 4, 2012 12:37 AM

• by trevor_allen_faller

  Elliptical galaxies have a large range of sizes. The largest elliptical galaxies can be over a million light-years in diameter. The smallest "dwarf elliptical" galaxies are less than one-tenth the size of the Milky Way!! as an example, lets take the smallest at 12 000 000 light years the separation is one diameter roughly 12 000 000 light years apart or 72 quintillion miles (18 zeros) as the crow flies

  Posted November 4, 2012 1:44 AM

• by Budgieye moderator

  possible #binary_nucleus ?
  nothing on NED
  spectrum for the one on the left, which looks more like a red star spectrum? than a galaxy
  no hot hydrogen
  http://skyserver.sdss3.org/dr8/en/tools/explore/obj.asp?id=1237648704067273096
  ??

  Posted November 4, 2012 10:27 AM