images

Galaxies UGC 1810 and UGC 1813 in Andromeda

by

Nasa/ESA/Novapix

Reference

a-gax96-00281

Date

2011-04-27

These galaxies also cataloged as Arp 273 lie at a distance of about 340 million light-years. Their distorted appearance is due to gravitational tides as the pair engage in close encounters. The larger of the spiral galaxies, known as UGC 1810, has a disk that is distorted into a rose-like shape by the gravitational tidal pull of the companion galaxy below it, known as UGC 1813. This image is a composite of Hubble Wide Field Camera 3 data taken on December 17, 2010, with three separate filters that allow a broad range of wavelengths covering the ultraviolet, blue, and red portions of the spectrum.