‘Penguin and its egg in space…’
Ibinahagi ng National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) ang kamangha-manghang larawan ng dalawang galaxies na hugis penguin at itlog.
Sa isang Instagram post, inihayag ng NASA na nakuhanan ang penguin at egg-shaped galaxies ng kanilang Spitzer at Hubble space telescopes.
Sa 23 million light-years na layo nito, sinabi ng NASA na ang naturang pares ng galaxies ay umiiral nang halos 10 beses na mas malayo sa Earth kaysa sa Andromeda galaxy.
“The ‘penguin’ part of the pair is a spiral galaxy twisted and pulled by the pull of its neighbor. Due to its mix of features – new stars, strands of gas, and others – its distortion is readily visible,” paliwanag ng NASA.
“The ‘egg,’ in contrast, appears featureless due to its smooth distribution of old stars. This hides any shaping caused by its neighbor,” dagdag pa nito.
Inihayag din ng NASA na sa paglipas ng panahon, mapaglalapit ng gravity ang dalawang nasabing galaxies hanggang sa magsanib ang mga ito at maging iisa.
“This type of merging likely occurred in the history of most large galaxies we see today, including the Milky Way,” saad pa ng NASA.