The 'Jellyfish' Galaxy in Virgo (UGC 9326 & UGC 9327) | Subaru Telescope

The 'Jellyfish' Galaxy in Virgo (UGC 9326 & UGC 9327) | Subaru Telescope

Vast cosmic images were captured through the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP), a large-scale survey spanning 330 nights of Subaru Telescope operations that started in 2014 and lasted over seven years. Many interacting or colliding galaxies were captured. These affect each other’s shapes through mutual gravitation.

This image shows two interacting spiral galaxies in the Virgo constellation that resemble jellyfish. The galaxy corresponding to the jellyfish bell is UGC 9327, and another galaxy in the tail-looking tentacles is UGC 9326. The HSC staff member who discovered the pair of galaxies named them the ‘Jellyfish Galaxy’ due to their striking appearance.

Distance from Earth: about 770 million light-years

The Subaru Telescope is an astronomical observation facility operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ). It is located at the summit of Mauna Kea at an altitude of 4,200 meters in the U.S. state of Hawaii.

Learn more about Japan's Subaru Telescope: 
https://subarutelescope.org/en/

Credit: NAOJ; image provided by Masayuki Tanaka
Release Date: July 3, 2024

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