NGC 3690
This system consists of a pair of galaxies, dubbed IC 694 and NGC 3690, which made a close pass some 700 million years ago. As a result of this interaction, the system underwent a fierce burst of star formation. In the last fifteen years or so six supernovae have popped off in the outer reaches of the galaxy, making this system a distinguished supernova factory. Arp 299 belongs to the family of ultraluminous infrared galaxies and is located in the constellation of Ursa Major, the Great Bear, approximately 150 million light-years away. It is the 299th galaxy in Arp's Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies. Despite its enormous amount of absorbing dust, enough violet and near-ultraviolet light leaks out for it to be number 171 in B.E. Markarian's catalogue of galaxies with excess ultraviolet emission.
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.
Credit:
NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration and A. Evans (University of Virginia, Charlottesville/NRAO/Stony Brook University)
About the Image
| Id: | heic0810as |
| Type: | Observation |
| Release date: | 24 April 2008, 15:00 |
| Related releases: | heic0810 |
| Size: | 3823 x 3823 px |
About the Object
| Name: | Arp 299, IC 694, NGC 3690 |
| Type: | • Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Interacting |
| Distance: | 150 million light years |
Colours & filters
| Band | Wavelength | Telescope |
| Optical B |
435 nm | Hubble Space Telescope ACS |
| Optical Pseudogreen (B+I) |
Hubble Space Telescope ACS | |
| Infrared I |
814 nm | Hubble Space Telescope ACS |
