$19.95
This is a beautiful 11"x14" photograph printed on Fuji Crystal Archive paper in our professional photo lab. The image size is 10" x 10" and printed on 11" x 14" paper. Additionally, print sizes from 8" x 10" to 40" x60" and larger are also available - email HubblePix@gmail.com for pricing.
NGC 5257/8 (Arp 240) is an astonishing galaxy pair, composed of spiral galaxies of similar mass and size, NGC 5257 and NGC 5258. The galaxies are visibly interacting with each other via a bridge of dim stars connecting the two galaxies, almost like two dancers holding hands while performing a pirouette. Both galaxies harbor supermassive black holes in their centers and are actively forming new stars in their disks. Arp 240 is located in the constellation Virgo, approximately 300 million light-years away, and is the 240th galaxy in Arp's Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies. With the exception of a few foreground stars from our own Milky Way all the objects in this image are galaxies.
This image is part of a large collection of 59 images of merging galaxies taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and released on the occasion of its 18th anniversary on 24th April 2008.
Object Names: NGC 5257, NGC 5257/8, Arp 240, VV 055, KPG 389
Image Type: Astronomical
Credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration, and A. Evans (University of Virginia, Charlottesville/NRAO/Stony Brook University)
(HST-AEZ)