Arp 302 (UGC 9618 )

UGC 9618, also known as VV 340 or Arp 302 consists of a pair of very gas-rich spiral galaxies in their early stages of interaction: VV 340A is seen edge-on to the left, and VV 340B face-on to the right. An enormous amount of infrared light is radiated by the gas from massive stars that are forming at a rate similar to the most vigorous giant star-forming regions in our own Milky Way. UGC 9618 is 450 million light-years away from Earth, and is the 302nd galaxy in Arp's Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies.

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.
Technical facts about this image About the object
Object name: UGC 9618, VV 340, Arp 302, VV 340A, VV 340B, KPG 446B
Object description: Interacting Galaxies
Position (J2000): 14 57 00.90
+24 37 01.7
Constellation: Boötes
Distance: 450 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)
Instrument: ACS/WFC
Exposure date(s): January 6, 2002
Exposure time: 33 minutes
Filters: F435W (B) and F814W (I)
Source

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2008/16/image/ab/ (direct link)
Date

24 April 2008 (2008-04-24)
Author

NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration, and A. Evans (University of Virginia, Charlottesville/NRAO/Stony Brook University)

Images

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