NASA Hubble Telescope Spots Bizarre Cosmic Quartet of Galaxies Bursting with Stars

The Hubble Space Telescope has spotted a bizarre cosmic quartet. It's viewed a galaxy group bursting with dramatic star formation, tidal tails, galactic mergers and black holes.

This quartet is composed of NGC 839, NGC 838, NGC 835 and NGC 833. This is four of the seven galaxies that make up the entire group of galaxies in this region of space. They shine brightly with glowing golden centers and wispy tails of gas.

This is actually an example of a compact group, a group that represents some of the densest concentrations of galaxies known in the universe. In fact, it makes them perfect laboratories for studying weird phenomena.

In fact, in this system the researchers found two LINERs, one Seyfert 2 galaxy and three starburst galaxies. All three types of these galaxies are different and can each help scientists explore something different about the cosmos.

In the quartet, NGC 839 is a LINER-type and luminous infrared galaxy. Its companion, NGC 838 is a LINER-type galaxy with lots of starburst activity and no central black hole. The two remaining galaxies, NGC 835 and NGC 833, are both Seyfert 2 galaxies which have incredibly luminous cores when observed at other wavelengths than in the visible light, and are home to active supermassive black holes.

The X-ray emission emanating from the black hole within NGC 833 is so high that it suggests the galaxy has been stripped of gas and dust by past interactions with other galaxies. It's not alone in having a violent history, either; NGC 839 was likely created due to a galactic merger in the recent past.

The findings reveal a bit more about these galaxies and tell scientists a bit more about our universe.

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