APOD: 2026 August 10 – Three Galaxy Pairs
Discover the cosmosEach day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
Explanation:Each of these pairs of galaxies is different.
The twogalaxiesat the top are likelynot interacting, at least presently.
However, the top galaxy with the blue stripe,NGC 4650A, is apolar ring galaxyand may be the result of a pastgalaxy collision.
The two galaxies in the middle of thefeatured imageappear like they could beinteracting gravitationally— but theirrelative speedsmake this unlikely.
Of these two, the larger galaxy,NGC 4650, is aspiral galaxywith abright bar of starsacross its center.
The two galaxies at the bottom areactively interacting.
Possibly in a billion years or so, NGC 4622A and NGC 4622B willmergeand become one single galaxy.
All of these galaxies are likely members of the larger Centaurus Galaxy Cluster.
Tomorrow’s picture:many moons