Photograph of a merging galaxy 681 million light-years away

Observations from space and ground telescopes provide a stunning view of the three-galactic collision known as IC 2431.

First discovered on February 24, 1896 by French astronomer Stéphane Javelle, IC 2431 is a distant galaxy system merging, up to 681 million light-years away in the constellation Cancer. Prize. Initially, the object was identified as just a nebula, but additional observations later indicated it to be a collision between at least three galaxies with intense star formation.

IC 2431 Fusion Galactic System.

NASA on February 18 released a new image showing IC 2431's beautiful clouds of dust and light swirls, where star formation and turbulent tidal distortion occurs due to gravitational interactions between the three stars. Galaxy. A dense cloud of dust obscured the center of the system.

The composite image above includes infrared, optical, and ultraviolet observations from the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Survey Camera (ASC), the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the Victor ground telescope. M. Blanco in Chile and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Station in New Mexico.

The new observation of IC 2431 is part of the citizen science project Galaxy Zoo - the largest galaxy investigation ever conducted with the participation of more than 100,000 volunteers to classify 900,000 galaxies yet to be discovered. is discovered.

"The project achieved results equivalent to years of work by a professional astronomer in just 175 days and paved the way for similar citizen astronomy projects," NASA said. "Following Galaxy Zoo projects include the largest-ever studies of galaxy mergers and dwarf galaxies, as well as entirely new types of small star-forming galaxies."