This newly released
Hubble image shows spiral galaxy ESO 373-8, which is located roughly 25 million
light-years away. Located some 25 million light-years away, this new Hubble
image shows spiral galaxy ESO 373-8. Together with at least seven of its
galactic neighbors, this galaxy is a member of the NGC 2997 group. We see it
side-on as a thin, glittering streak across the sky, with all its contents neatly
aligned in the same plane. We see so many galaxies like this — flat,
stretched-out pancakes — that our brains barely process their shape. But let us
stop and ask: Why are galaxies stretched out and aligned like this? Try
spinning around in your chair with your legs and arms out. Slowly pull your
legs and arms inwards, and tuck them in against your body. Notice anything? You
should have started spinning faster. This effect is due to conservation of
angular momentum, and it’s true for galaxies, too. This galaxy began life as a
humungous ball of slowly rotating gas. Collapsing in upon itself, it spun
faster and faster until, like pizza dough spinning and stretching in the air, a
disc started to form. Anything that bobbed up and down through this disc was
pulled back in line with this motion, creating a streamlined shape. Angular
momentum is always conserved — from a spinning galactic disc 25 million
light-years away from us, to any astronomer, or astronomer-wannabe, spinning in
his office chair. Image: ESA/Hubble
& NASA
Μια
ακόμη εντυπωσιακή εικόνα από το Σύμπαν προσέθεσε στον μακρύ του κατάλογο το
διαστημικό τηλεσκόπιο Hubble.
Το τηλεσκόπιο φωτογράφισε τον γαλαξία ESO 373-8 που βρίσκεται σε απόσταση περίπου 25 εκατομμυρίων ετών
φωτός από εμάς. Ο ESO
373-8 ανήκει στο γαλαξιακό σμήνος NGC 2997 και εξαιτίας του σχήματος του έχει λάβει τον
χαρακτηρισμό «τηγανίτα» από τους ειδικούς. Δεν είναι ο μόνος γαλαξίας… τηγανίτα
στο Σύμπαν αφού διάφορα φαινόμενα και κυρίως η στροφορμή «υποχρεώνουν»
ορισμένους γαλαξίες που ξεκινούν ως γιγάντιες μπάλες περιστρεφόμενων αερίων να
μετατρέπονται σε λεπτούς κοσμικούς δίσκους.
