images

Galaxy Markarian 273

by

Nasa/Esa/Hubble Heritage Team/Novapix

Reference

a-gax95-00350

Date

2008-05-11

Markarian 273 shows an intricate central region and a striking tail that extends diagonally towards the bottom-right of the image. The tail is about 130 thousand light-years long and is strongly indicative of a merger between two galaxies. Markarian 273 has an intense region of starburst, where 60 solar masses of new stars are born each year. Near-infrared observations reveal a nucleus with two components. Markarian 273 is one of the most luminous galaxies when observed in the infrared, and is located 500 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Ursa Major. Image taken by the Hubble space telescope on november 16, 2001.