Markarian 273 is a galaxy with a bizarre structure that somewhat resembles a toothbrush. The Hubble image 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.
This image is part of a large collection of 59 images of merging galaxies taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and released on the occasion of its 18th anniversary on 24th April 2008.
About the object
Object name
Mrk 273, UGC 8696, I Zw 071
Object description
Interacting Galaxies
Position (J2000)
13 44 42.29
+55 53 10.5
Constellation
Ursa Major
Distance
500 million light-years (150 million parsecs)
About the data
Data description
The Hubble image was created using HST data from proposal 10592: A. Evans (University of Virginia, Charlottesville/NRAO/Stony Brook University)
NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration, and A. Evans (University of Virginia, Charlottesville/NRAO/Stony Brook University)
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ESA
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This license does not apply if ESA material created after 2008 or source material from other organizations is in use.
The material was created for NASA by Space Telescope Science Institute under Contract NAS5-26555, or for ESA by the Hubble European Space Agency Information Centre.
Copyright statement at hubblesite.org
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2008 copyright statement at spacetelescope.org
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