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Image Gallery > Astronomical Images > Galaxies and the Universe > ssc2006-11b

NASA, ESA/JPL-Caltech/STScI/D. Elmegreen (Vassar)

Eyes in the Sky

These shape-shifting galaxies have taken on the form of a giant mask. The icy blue eyes are actually the cores of two merging galaxies, called NGC 2207 and IC 2163, and the mask is their spiral arms. The false-colored image consists of infrared data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope (red) and visible data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (blue/green).

NGC 2207 and IC 2163 met and began a sort of gravitational tango about 40 million years ago. The two galaxies are tugging at each other, stimulating new stars to form. Eventually, this cosmic ball will come to an end, when the galaxies meld into one. The dancing duo is located 140 million light-years away in the Canis Major constellation.

The infrared data from Spitzer highlight the galaxies' dusty regions, while the visible data from Hubble indicates starlight. In the Hubble-only image (not pictured here), the dusty regions appear as dark lanes.

The Hubble data correspond to light with wavelengths of .44 and .55 microns (blue and green, respectively). The Spitzer data represent light of 8 microns.

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About the Object (1)
Object name: NGC2207, IC2163
Object type: galaxy, galaxies
Position (J2000): RA: 06h 16m 25.00s Dec: -21° 22' 26.30"
Distance: 140 million light-years
Constellation: Canis Major

About the Data

Spitzer Data

Image Credit: NASA, ESA/JPL-Caltech/STScI/D. Elmegreen (Vassar)
Instrument: IRAC
Wavelength: 5.8�8.0 microns (red)
Image scale: 4.8 x 2.5 arcmin
Orientation: N is 167 deg CCW from up
Release Date: 2006/04/26

Other Data

Image Credit: NASA, ESA/JPL-Caltech/STScI/D. Elmegreen (Vassar)
Instrument: Hubble Space Telescope
Wavelength: 0.44 microns (blue); 0.55 microns (green)
Image scale: 4.8 x 2.5 arcmin
Orientation: N is 167 deg CCW from up
Release Date: 2006/04/26

Observers

Debra Elmegreen (Vassar College)
Bruce Elmegreen (T.J. Watson Research Center)
Michele Kaufman (Ohio State University)
Kartik Sheth (Spitzer Science Center)
Curtis Struck (Iowa State University)
Magnus Thomasson (Onsala Space Observatory)
Elias Brinks (University of Hertfordshire)

Additional Info

Press Release: Galaxies Don Mask of Stars in New Spitzer Image

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