Asset Publisher

You can choose Hubble's next discovery - the result

You can choose Hubble's next discovery - the result

3 March 2009

To celebrate the International Year of Astronomy people from around the world have selected the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope's next astronomical discovery. Voters selected their favourite from a choice of six candidate objects, all of which Hubble has never observed before.

The winner - Arp 274, a pair of interacting spiral galaxies.

The winning object, with nearly 50% of the 139,944 votes, is a pair of interacting spiral galaxies called Arp 274. Past observations of interacting galaxies, taken by Hubble, have proven to be extremely attractive due to elegant, twisted lanes of dust and stars woven together under the relentless pull of gravity, along with brilliant blue clusters of newborn stars.

Arp 274 consists of two galaxies that are starting to interact. From the outside both galaxies appear to maintain a spiral structure but closer study reveals the gravitational distortions each are generating within the other. New observations by Hubble should reveal unique information about these interacting spiral galaxies.

The brand-new image of Arp 274, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, will be released between 2 – 5 April, during the 100 Hours of Astronomy, a cornerstone project of the International Year of Astronomy.

Last Update: 1 September 2019
28-Mar-2024 23:46 UT

ShortUrl Portlet

Shortcut URL

https://sci.esa.int/s/W34z1p8

Images And Videos

Related Publications

Documentation