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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.   
      
                                 2023 September 25   
         A starfield with two bright stars at the top of the frame and two   
      galaxies at the bottom. The upper galaxy is a spiral galaxy and has an   
          appearance reminiscent of a hummingbird. The lower galaxy is a   
        featureless elliptical galaxy. Please see the explanation for more   
                               detailed information.   
      
                          Arp 142: The Hummingbird Galaxy   
       Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble, HLA; Processing & Copyright: Basudeb   
                                    Chakrabarti   
      
      Explanation: What's happening to this spiral galaxy? Just a few hundred   
      million years ago, NGC 2936, the upper of the two large galaxies shown   
      at the bottom, was likely a normal spiral galaxy -- spinning, creating   
      stars -- and minding its own business. But then it got too close to the   
      massive elliptical galaxy NGC 2937, just below, and took a turn.   
      Sometimes dubbed the Hummingbird Galaxy for its iconic shape, NGC 2936   
      is not only being deflected but also being distorted by the close   
      gravitational interaction. Behind filaments of dark interstellar dust,   
      bright blue stars form the nose of the hummingbird, while the center of   
      the spiral appears as an eye. Alternatively, the galaxy pair, together   
      known as Arp 142, look to some like Porpoise or a penguin protecting an   
      egg. The featured re-processed image showing Arp 142 in great detail   
      was taken recently by the Hubble Space Telescope. Arp 142 lies about   
      300 million light years away toward the constellation of the Water   
      Snake (Hydra). In a billion years or so the two galaxies will likely   
      merge into one larger galaxy.   
      
                        Tomorrow's picture: big blue horse   
        __________________________________________________________________   
      
          Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)   
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                                & Michigan Tech. U.   
      
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