[Placidus (Mike and Trish)]

Originally Posted by markas

I like this one! It's a great target very well caught.

Mark

Thanks, Mark!

Originally Posted by vlazg

Stunning M&T......as usual.

Originally Posted by mountainjoo

I learn about a new galaxy every time you guys post one, and the interaction seen here is brilliant!

Thanks, Jerome. The deformation and star-formation is impressive.

Originally Posted by RickS

Very classy, M&T! Some sublime detail in there that I've never noticed before. And only the merest traces of annelids

Cheers,
Rick.

Thrilled that we've shown something a bit different!

Originally Posted by Atmos

This has got to be one of my favourite images that I've seen come from your observatory! Absolutely an enjoyable image to view

Thanks, Colin. We are much encouraged. Makes up for the fact that the roof opening mechanism is trying to tear itself to pieces.

Originally Posted by gregbradley

I agree, I like this one a lot. Lovely colour and all those little blue clumps of stars. Do you think they are globs?

I wonder if the LMC distorts arms of the Milky Way in a similar way?
Greg.

Hi, Greg, and many thanks. Guessing wildly about the possibility of globulars. My vague understanding is that globular clusters should be mostly Population II stars and therefore more orange coloured. There are a couple of extremely blue isolated stars at the top of the full image, far from any others. I secretly hope that they are quasars rather than just rare blue stars in the Milky Way.

I'm aware that there is a very faint bridge of gas and dust between us and the LMC. Colin has a better answer.

Originally Posted by silv

I enjoy your introductional text as much as your imaging result!

Wow, the big one looks as if it's forming a funnel due to to the secondary galaxy mass closing in on the black hole head on!

And what's the bright blue speck, double star with nebula at 12 o'clock? Does it belong to the outmost spiral arm or is it a separate object?
It seems too bright to be part of the galaxy.. as if the area was actually much closer to our viewpoint.

Hi, Annette, nice to hear from you. I'd be guessing wildly about the mechanics, but here goes. I'd reckon that the nebulosity is definitely star formation in the spiral arm, but the two bright blue stars seem implausibly too bright to be part of the galaxy. The way to tell would be to do spectroscopy and compare the red shift of the two blue stars with that of the rest of the galaxy.

Originally Posted by Atmos

It doesn't currently but it will in the future, the Sagitarrius Dwarf Galaxy has caused some minor disruption however. The blue clumps are bouts in intense star formation caused by the interaction between the LMC like object and the main galaxy.

Star formation gets very intense around galactic interactions.

Thanks for that, Colin. Not sure I'd want to be in a galaxy with really major star formation going on - we'd get fried.

Originally Posted by silv

keep coming back to the image.
the outstretched arm can't be aiming outward due to the attack of the dwarf? ?
that arm-effect wouldn't be happening if you throw a stone into a sandpit, would it? the sandpit being the big galaxy, of course.

how about it's more like a sling, still pulling material from outside the galaxy into the "gravitational force field" of the big one?
maybe enhanced by the additional forces of the dwarf?

----

and from the "wall" growing upwards in the back (what I called a "funnel" before), we can calculate the direction from which the dwarf is "thrown into the sandpit". so cool. thanks for sharing!

Glad we've captured your imagination, Annette. Wish I could give any sort of an answer. Sob. But it's fun to speculate.

Best,
Mike (and Trish, who is sitting beside me, processing garden photos of butcher birds just now).