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                           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.   
      
                                 2022 February 19   
      
                           Peculiar Galaxies of Arp 273   
                      Image Credit & Copyright: Jason Guenzel   
      
      Explanation: The spiky stars in the foreground of this backyard   
      telescopic frame are well within our own Milky Way Galaxy. But the two   
      eye-catching galaxies lie far beyond the Milky Way, at a distance of   
      over 300 million light-years. Their distorted appearance is due to   
      gravitational tides as the pair engage in close encounters. Cataloged   
      as Arp 273 (also as UGC 1810), the galaxies do look peculiar, but   
      interacting galaxies are now understood to be common in the universe.   
      Nearby, the large spiral Andromeda Galaxy is known to be some 2 million   
      light-years away and approaching the Milky Way. The peculiar galaxies   
      of Arp 273 may offer an analog of their far future encounter. Repeated   
      galaxy encounters on a cosmic timescale can 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: aurora over white dome   
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