Galaxy Zoo Talk

Is this galaxy merging?

  • dragonsearcher by dragonsearcher

    It looks like it's merging, but thar galaxy may just be in front of it. What do you think?

    Posted

  • JeanTate by JeanTate in response to dragonsearcher's comment.

    I think the edge-on galaxy is not interacting with the nice round elliptical, and is actually far in the background.

    Both galaxies have SDSS spectra, with the redshift of the elliptical being 0.058, and that of the spiral 0.209. This is a very nice illustration of the fact that there's ~no dust, or gas, in the elliptical ... the spiral is not noticeably dimmed or reddened, and there are no obvious absorption lines in the spiral's spectrum, with a redshift of ~0.06.

    Very cool overlap! 😃

    Posted