A photograph of the Arp 188 Galaxy processed by Faustino Márquez, from the Ibiza Astronomical Association, chosen 'Astronomy Picture of the Day' by NASA
Una Photograph of the Astronomical Association of Ibiza (AAE) has been award-winning this December 11 from 2018 with the APOD (Astronomy Picture of the Day) distinction from NASA.
The APOD website of the North American Space Agency receives thousands of images from observatories around the world every day, as well as spacecraft. Among all of them, select one as the best of the day.
The image in question, made by the Hubble Space Telescope, has been processed by Faustino Márquez, of the AAE. In it appears the Arp Galaxy 188, also known as Tadpole or tadpole.
Márquez has worked for hours to combine three raw images obtained by the Hubble Telescope and achieve a clear appreciation of the Galaxy.
Its shape is striking, a peculiarity that the Ibiza Astronomical Group wanted to explain on its Facebook profile. “Apparently, a more compact intruder galaxy crossed in front of Arp 188, from right to left in this view, and was left hanging behind the tadpole by its gravitational pull. During that close encounter, tidal forces pulled the stars, gas and dust of the spiral galaxy together, forming the spectacular tail. The intruder galaxy itself can be seen through the spiral arms of the foreground at the top right. "Mimicking its terrestrial namesake, the Tadpole galaxy will likely lose its tail as it ages and the star clusters in the tail will then form small satellites of the large spiral galaxy."
Congratulations to the Astronomical Association of Ibiza its third APOD in six months and Faustino Márquez!
