The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has produced an excellent image of the spiral-lenticular galaxy pair Orb 140.
The lenticular galaxy NGC 274 is visible on the right side of this Hubble image, and the barred spiral galaxy NGC 275 is on the left. Image credit: NASA / ESA / R. Foley, University of California – Santa Cruz / Gladys Kober, NASA & Catholic University of America.
Arb 140 Located approx 70 million light years Far away in the Cetus constellation.
This constellation is part of a binary Atlas of Peculiar GalaxiesList of 338 constellations compiled by American astronomer Halton Orb in 1966.
It contains NGC 274 (also known as LEDA 2980) and NGC 275 (LEDA 2984).
NGC 274 is classified as a lenticular galaxy, while NGC 275 is a barred spiral galaxy.
„Lendicular galaxies and barred spiral galaxies have different structures,” Hubble astronomers explained.
„In barred spiral galaxies, the band of stars runs through the central bulge of the galaxy (seen here as a bright-white, vertical haze in NGC 275).”
„Typically, the constellation's arms begin at the end of the bar.”
„Lenticular galaxies, on the other hand, are classified somewhere between elliptical and spiral galaxies,” the researchers added.
„They get their name from the rim that resembles a disk.”
„Lenticular galaxies have large central bulges and flat disk-like spirals, but no spiral arms.”
„They don't have a lot of gas and dust, and they're made up primarily of old stars.”
Previous observations of Arp 140 revealed a tidal tail extending several light-years from NGC 275 beyond the pair.
They also showed that NGC 275 does not show enhanced star formation, contrary to the often assumed picture of interacting galaxies.
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