Right ascension 14 00 48.3 Apparent size (V) 2.5 Constellation Virgo | Declination −05° 47′ 25″ Magnitude 11.4 Apparent magnitude (V) 11.4 | |
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Distance 127 million light-years (39 Mpc) Similar NGC 5068, NGC 5170, NGC 5247, NGC 5364, NGC 5422 | ||
Arp 271 is a pair of similarly sized interacting spiral galaxies, NGC 5426 and NGC 5427. It is not certain whether the galaxies are going to eventually collide or not. They will continue interacting for tens of millions of years, creating new stars as a result of the mutual gravitational attraction between the galaxies, a pull seen in the bridge of stars already connecting the two. Located 90 million light-years away, the Arp 271 pair is about 130,000 light-years across. It was originally discovered in 1785 by William Herschel. It is speculated, that the Milky Way will undergo a similar collision in about five billion years with the neighbouring Andromeda galaxy, which is currently located about 2.6 million light-years away.
References
Arp 271 Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA