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Interacting galaxies · evidence and sources

Mice Galaxies

Two interacting galaxies pull long tails of stars out into space.

Also known as NGC 4676, NGC 4676A, NGC 4676B, Arp 242, The Mice.

Catalog Position basis, the same label the app shows on the selection card.

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Every aspect, with its origin

One record per aspect. The origin says what kind of thing each value is; the source says where it came from; the limit says what it cannot tell you.

ObservedCatalogComputedReconstructedIllustrativeUndocumented
Position Catalog

Registered image field

J2000 image-field center RA 12.8 h, Dec 30.7°. Field 3.2 × 2.4 arcminutes; north 64.6° right of vertical.

SourceHubble ACS
EpochJ2000
LimitThe image field center is not necessarily a galaxy nucleus.
Physical data Catalog

Adopted distance

Approximately 300,000,000 light-years.

SourcePublished distance context
LimitAn approximate reference distance; distances to individual points within the image are not supplied by the observation.
Appearance Reconstructed

Observation-derived appearance

The close view follows the interacting bodies and tails. The background field is not placed at the pair’s distance; orbit and tail depth remain illustrative. Small foreground or background sources inside the selected apertures may remain; they do not have individually measured depths. Projected structure follows the credited observation at its published angular scale and an approximate adopted distance. Shallow depth is illustrative, not measured tomography. The source palette is preserved; brightness is adjusted for the navigable view.

SourceNASA , Holland Ford (JHU), the ACS Science Team and ESA

What is not measured

  • Appearance: a reconstruction from measurements, not a direct observation. Observation-derived appearance. The close view follows the interacting bodies and tails. The background field is not placed at the pair’s distance; orbit and tail depth remain illustrative. Small foreground or background sources inside the selected apertures may remain; they do not have individually measured depths. Projected structure follows the credited observation at its published angular scale and an approximate adopted distance. Shallow depth is illustrative, not measured tomography. The source palette is preserved; brightness is adjusted for the navigable view.

Sources cited

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