The Twisted Disk of NGC 4753

The Twisted Disk of NGC 4753

Image Credit:
NASA,
ESA,
Hubble;
Processing:
Alexander Reinartz

Explanation:
What do you think this is?

Here’s a clue: it’s bigger than a bread box.

Much bigger.

The answer is that pictured
NGC 4753 is a
twisted disk galaxy, where unusual
dark dust filaments provide clues about its history.

No one is sure what happened, but a
leading model holds that a relatively normal disk galaxy
gravitationally ripped apart a dusty
satellite galaxy while its
precession distorted the plane of the
accreted debris as it rotated.

The
cosmic collision is
hypothesized to have started about a billion years ago.

NGC 4753 is seen from the side,
and possibly would look like a normal spiral galaxy from the top.

The bright orange
halo
is composed of many older stars that might trace
dark matter.

The featured
Hubble image was recently reprocessed to highlight
ultraviolet and red-light emissions.