Spiral Galaxy UGC 3912: A Suspected Galactic Encounter | Hubble
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This Hubble Space Telescope image is of the spiral galaxy UGC 3912, located approximately 60–63 million light-years away in the constellation Canis Minor. It is classified as a spiral galaxy. However, UGC 3912’s distorted shape typically indicates a gravitational encounter with another galaxy. When galaxies interact—brushing up against each other’s gravitational fields or even collide— their stars, dust, and gas can be pulled into new paths. UGC 3912 may have been an organized-looking spiral once, but it looks like it has been smudged out of shape.
Fortunately, when galaxies interact, the individual stars and objects that orbit them remain whole even though their orbits can change so dramatically that the entire galaxy’s shape is altered. This is because the distances between stars in galaxies are so vast that they do not crash into one another, just continue serenely along their new orbits.
Astronomers have been studying UGC 3912 as part of an investigation into supernovae activity—when stars at least eight times larger than our Sun explode at the end of their lives. Hubble is examining one of the several types of supernovae, a hydrogen-rich phenomenon known as Type II. Though ample Type II supernovae have been observed, they exhibit enormous diversity in their brightness and spectroscopy and are not well understood.
Image Description: "A scattered grouping of blue and violet stars shines near the lower half of the image. Distant galaxies fill the black background of space, and bright stars with diffraction spikes are visible throughout."
The Hubble Space Telescope is a partnership between the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA.
Release Date: Feb. 1, 2024
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