COLLECTION NAME:
NASA Spitzer Space Telescope Collection
Record
Title:
Interacting Galaxy Pair Arp 107
Description:
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope's sensitive infrared detectors map out faint regions of new star formation in this pair of colliding galaxies known as Arp 107. Like a beautiful pearl necklace, young star clusters have formed along the ring-like tidal arm in this system. Spitzer images at 8 microns (second picture above) provide a clear view of these clumps of young stars. In contrast, in the shorter wavelength 3.6 micron band (first picture), the older stars in the small companion to the northeast and the bridge connecting the two galaxies are bright. The color-coded multi-band picture (third picture; red=8.0 microns, blue=3.6 microns) emphasizes this difference in stellar ages. North is up and east is to the left on these images. The field of view is 3 arcminutes. These Spitzer images were presented at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 30, 2005. A journal article with a detailed analysis of these maps has been submitted to the Astronomical Journal.
Release Date:
2005/06/09
Release Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/B. J. Smith (East Tennessee State University)
Object type:
Interacting galaxies
Instrument:
IRAC
facet_what:
Infrared Array Camera (IRAC)
facet_where:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
facet_when:
May 30, 2005
facet_when_year:
2005
Image #:
sig05-006
UID:
SPD-SPITZ-sig05-006
