Hubble image of NGC 7714
Wide-field image of NGC 7714 (ground-based image)
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The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has
captured this striking view of spiral galaxy NGC 7714. This galaxy has
drifted too close to another nearby galaxy and the dramatic interaction
has twisted its spiral arms out of shape, dragged streams of material
out into space, and triggered bright bursts of star formation.
NGC 7714 is a spiral galaxy at 100 million light-years from Earth — a relatively close neighbour in cosmic terms.
The galaxy has witnessed some violent and dramatic events in its
recent past. Tell-tale signs of this brutality can be seen in NGC 7714's
strangely shaped arms, and in the smoky golden haze that stretches out
from the galactic centre.
So what caused this disfigurement? The culprit is a smaller companion
named NGC 7715, which lies just out of the frame of this image — but is
visible in the wider-field DSS image. The two galaxies [1]
drifted too close together between 100 and 200 million years ago, and
began to drag at and disrupt one another’s structure and shape.
As a result, a ring and two long tails of stars have emerged from NGC
7714, creating a bridge between the two galaxies. This bridge acts as a
pipeline, funnelling material from NGC 7715 towards its larger
companion and feeding bursts of star formation. Most of the star-forming
activity is concentrated at the bright galactic centre, although the
whole galaxy is sparking new stars.
Astronomers characterise NGC 7714 as a typical Wolf-Rayet starburst galaxy. This is due to the stars within it; a large number of the new stars are of the Wolf-Rayet type
— extremely hot and bright stars that begin their lives with dozens of
times the mass of the Sun, but lose most of it very quickly via powerful
winds.
This Hubble image is a composite of data capturing a broad range of
wavelengths, revealing the correlation of the gas clouds and stars in
the galaxy. This new picture not only reveals the intricate structure of
NGC 7714, but also shows many other objects that are much further away.
These background galaxies resemble faint smudges of light, some of them
with spiral forms.
Notes for editors
The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA.[1] The interacting pair formed by NGC 7714 and NGC 7715 is named Arp 284.
More information
Credit: NASA and ESA
Acknowledgement: A. Gal-Yam (Weizmann Institute of Science)
Links
Contacts
Georgia Bladon
Hubble/ESA
Garching, Germany
Tel: +49-89-3200-6855
Email: gbladon@partner.eso.org
