Free Astronomy Magazine September-October 2018

31 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2018 SPACE CHRONICLES Infrared Galaxy. NGC 3256 has been the subject of much study due to its luminosity, its proximity, and its ori- entation: astronomers observe its face-on orientation, that shows the disc in all its splendour. NGC 3256 provides an ideal target to investi- gate starbursts that have been trig- gered by galaxy mergers. It holds particular promise to further our understanding of the properties of young star clusters in tidal tails. As well as being lit up by over 1000 bright star clusters, the central re- gion of NGC 3256 is also home to crisscrossing threads of dark dust and a large disc of molecular gas spinning around two distinct nuclei — the relics of the two original galaxies. One nucleus is largely ob- scured, only unveiled in infrared, radio and X-ray wavelengths. These two initial galaxies were gas- rich and had similar masses, as they seem to be exerting roughly equal influence on each other. Their spiral disks are no longer distinct, and in a few hundred million years time, their nuclei will also merge and the two galaxies will likely become united as a large elliptical galaxy. L ocated about 100 million light- years away in the constellation of Vela (The Sails), NGC 3256 is approximately the same size as our Milky Way and belongs to the Hydra-Centaurus Supercluster. It still bears the marks of its tumultuous past in the extended luminous tails that sprawl out around the galaxy, thought to have formed 500 million years ago during the initial en- counter between the two galaxies, which today form NGC 3256. These tails are studded with young blue stars, which were born in the frantic but fertile collision of gas and dust. When two galaxies merge, individ- ual stars rarely collide because they are separated by such enormous dis- tances, but the gas and dust of the galaxies do interact — with spectac- ular results. The brightness blooming in the centre of NGC 3256 gives away its status as a powerful starburst galaxy, host to vast amounts of in- fant stars born into groups and clus- ters. These stars shine most brightly in the far infrared, making NGC 3256 exceedingly luminous in this wave- length domain. Because of this radi- ation, it is classified as a Luminous T his video zooms in on the spiral gal- axy NGC 3256, about 100 million light-years away. It starts with a view of the night sky focused on the constel- lation of Vela (The Sails), as seen from the ground. It then zooms through observations from the Digitized Sky Survey 2, and ends with a view of the galaxy obtained with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. [ESA/Hubble, NASA, Digitized Sky Survey 2. Acknowledgement: Da- vide De Martin] !