Category: space – Page 601
Sublime New Hubble Image Reveals a Thrilling Exchange Between Two Galaxies
The ongoing interaction between two galaxies 320 million light-years away has been captured in a gorgeous Hubble image.
They’re collectively known as Arp 282 in Halton Arp’s Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies, and they consist of a large barred spiral galaxy named NGC 169, about 140,000 light-years across, and a much smaller polar-ring galaxy named IC 1,559, which is about 40,000 light-years across.
These two galaxies have drawn close enough together that they’re exchanging material. That’s not unusual: Although space is vast and mostly empty, galaxies are gravitationally drawn together, perhaps channeled along strands of the invisible cosmic web that stretches across and plays a vital role in shaping the Universe.
Astronomers spot tantalizing large molecule near star with ‘comet factory’
The molecule is a precursor to organic molecules, which can be associated with life.
Astronomers spotted the largest molecule yet found in a planet-forming disk, which they say will tell us more about the origin of life.
The molecule, dimethyl, is a precursor to organic molecules like methane that in some cases may be indicative of life. The team also may have found methyl formate, which is deemed a “building block” to constructing even larger organic molecules.
Risky Asteroid to Reach Earth by 2023 But Poses No Harm, Experts Say
Earlier this year, a space rock was estimated to hit the planet in 2023. Read on to know how this prediction changed, and how astronomers carry out studies for this type of event.
