MSGID: 1:153/757.0 6182ff49   
   TZUTC: -0800   
   CHRS: LATIN-1 2   
                           Astronomy Picture of the Day   
      
       Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our   
         fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation   
                       written by a professional astronomer.   
      
                                  2025 January 9   
      
                           Peculiar Galaxies of Arp 273   
                       Image Credit & Copyright: Dave Doctor   
      
      Explanation: The colorful, spiky stars are in the foreground of this   
      image taken with a small telescope on planet Earth. They lie well   
      within our own Milky Way Galaxy. But the two eye-catching galaxies in   
      the frame lie far beyond the Milky Way, at a distance of over 300   
      million light-years. The galaxies' twisted and distorted appearance is   
      due to mutual gravitational tides as the pair engage in close   
      encounters. Cataloged as Arp 273 (also as UGC 1810), these galaxies do   
      look peculiar, but interacting galaxies are now understood to be common   
      in the universe. Closer to home, the large spiral Andromeda Galaxy is   
      known to be some 2 million light-years away and inexorably approaching   
      the Milky Way. In fact the far away peculiar galaxies of Arp 273 may   
      offer an analog of the far future encounter of Andromeda and Milky Way.   
      Repeated galaxy encounters on a cosmic timescale ultimately result in a   
      merger into a single galaxy of stars. From our perspective, the bright   
      cores of the Arp 273 galaxies are separated by only a little over   
      100,000 light-years.   
      
                        Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space   
        __________________________________________________________________   
      
          Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)   
               NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.   
                   NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices   
                         A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,   
                              NASA Science Activation   
                                & Michigan Tech. U.   
      
   --- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-7   
    * Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)   
   SEEN-BY: 10/0 1 19/10 102/401 103/1 17 705 105/81 106/201 124/5016   
   SEEN-BY: 128/187 129/305 134/100 153/135 143 148 151 757 6809 7083   
   SEEN-BY: 153/7715 214/22 218/0 1 215 601 700 810 840 850 860 880 900   
   SEEN-BY: 218/940 221/1 6 360 226/30 227/114 229/110 114 206 307 317   
   SEEN-BY: 229/400 426 428 470 664 700 705 240/1120 266/512 282/1038   
   SEEN-BY: 291/111 301/1 113 812 320/219 322/757 335/364 341/66 342/200   
   SEEN-BY: 396/45 460/58 633/280 712/848 902/26 5020/400 1042 5075/35   
   PATH: 153/757 221/6 301/1 218/700 229/426