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A spectacular image of a huge barred spiral galaxy known as NGC 6872 produced by the “fusion” of data from three telescopes, two of which belong to NASA. It is the one you see below, composed of the information of the Very Large Telescope of the European Southern Observatory, del Galaxy Evolution Explorer and of Spitzer Space Telescopeboth from NASA.
The image that emerged in recent days portrays NGC 6872 which has a tip-to-tip diameter of 522,000 light-years, i.e. over five times larger than the Milky Way. First identified about ten years ago, it is believed that it is the most impressive spiral galaxy ever discovered by human beingsand despite the fact that in recent years the list of discoveries has expanded a lot, the primacy is still NGC 6872.
Last year, between the images of Hubble and those of James Webb of spiral galaxies, we saw quite a lot, and although that of NGC 6872 is not too detailed, it is nonetheless a shot of undoubted charm, thanks also to the two long “tentacles ” of stars at the two opposites. Astronomers speculate that they indicate the gravitational interaction between NGC 6872which is over 210 billion light-years from Earth, and the nearby, much smaller disk galaxy, IC 4970an interaction that could produce a new galaxy.
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