GENERICO.ruInterestingThe Hubble Space Telescope captured the collision of two galaxies

The Hubble Space Telescope captured the collision of two galaxies

The image looks like the two galaxies are interacting, but they are actually far apart.< /strong>

The Hubble Space Telescope has taken a new image of two very similar galaxies called NGC 4496A and NGC 4496B. They are in the constellation Virgo. Despite the fact that they are located side by side in the photo, they have completely different distances both from the Earth and from each other.

According to NASA representatives, galaxy NGC 4496A is 47 million light-years away, and galaxy NGC 4496B is 212 million light-years away.

The fact that these galaxies are not nearby means that they cannot collide with each other another, nor interact accordingly. They just seem to overlap and this is due to random alignment.

Such random galactic alignments help astronomers study the distribution of dust in these galaxies. Galactic dust that pervades both NGC 4496A and NGC 4496B. This dust makes the images more beautiful, but on the other hand makes it difficult to observe the stars.

Cosmic dust absorbs and scatters blue light. Because of this, the stars appear dimmer and redder. Astronomers call this process «reddening». By studying how dust in a foreground galaxy changes the starlight of a galaxy in the background, astronomers can map the distribution of dust in a galaxy that is closer. The results of such studies help scientists refine their data regarding the distances to these galaxies and the types of stars that are in them.

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