Quasar IRAS 13218+0552
Hubble has captured evidence of a dance between two merging galaxies. The galaxies may have orbited each other several times before merging, leaving distinct loops of glowing gas around quasar IRAS13218+0552. The quasar is 2 billion light-years from Earth. The elongated core in the center of the image may comprise the two nuclei of the merging galaxies.
Credit:
About the Image
NASA press release
| Id: | opo9635a6 |
| Type: | Observation |
| Release date: | 19 November 1996, 15:00 |
| Size: | 208 x 208 px |
About the Object
| Name: | IRAS 13218+0552, QSO B1321+058 |
| Distance: | z=0.205 (redshift) |
Colours & filters
| Band | Wavelength | Telescope |
| Optical V |
606 nm | Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 |
