Galaxies dancing in the southern constellation of Pisces “Hixon Compact Galaxy Group 90” photographed by a telescope in South America | sorae Portal site to the universe

This is a picture of Hixson Compact Galaxy Group 90 (HCG 90) and its surroundings, located approximately 100 million light years away in the direction of the constellation Southern Pisces. A galaxy group is a collection of up to several dozen galaxies smaller than a galaxy cluster, and those in which several galaxies are packed together in a particularly small area are called compact galaxy groups.

Among the vaguely shining galaxies in the center of the image, the elliptical galaxy on the upper right side is “NGC 7173”, and the elliptical galaxy on the lower left side is “NGC 7176”. Elliptical galaxies do not have noticeable structures like spiral arms, but if you look closely at image NGC 7176, you can see a spiral arm-like structure extending toward the right. Actually, to the right of NGC 7176 is another spiral galaxy called “NGC 7174.” Its distorted and elongated shape suggests the gravitational interaction of the three galaxies.

Finally, let’s take a look at the top of the image. This image shows NGC 7172, a spiral galaxy known as an “edge-on galaxy” that is located directly sideways to the Earth. Although separated from the three dancing galaxies, NGC 7172 is also one of the galaxies that make up HCG 90.At its center is an active galactic nucleus

exists, and NGC 7172 is classified as a Seyfert galaxy (Seyfert type 2), which is a type of active galaxy.

*…It is believed that the driving force behind the activity in the narrow area at the center of the galaxy that emits strong electromagnetic waves is a supermassive black hole.

The image at the beginning was created based on data acquired by the wide-angle camera “OmegaCAM” mounted on the “VLT Survey Telescope (VST)” at the Paranal Observatory (Chile), and was created by the Italian National Astronomical Institute, which manages the VST. Published by the National Institute for Academic Affairs (INAF) on April 16, 2024.

MEDIA INAF – Tripudio di galassie in tre nuove immagini del Vst