Nā ‘Uhane Māhoe Huki Pū i ke Ola is the Hawaiian name given to this image of NGC 7253, a pair of spiral galaxies mutually trapped in gravity. This image was captured by the Gemini North telescope on Maunakea. (Image credit: Gemini International Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA) It is almost impossible to understand the entirety of a single galaxy: these realms can span hundreds of thousands of light years, and sometimes even millions of light years in diameter. So let’s imagine the greatness of now one, if not two, tangled galaxies, in the process of merging into one. That’s what you’re seeing in today’s featured image. What is it? The merged galaxies shown above were discovered by a group of students using the Gemini North Telescope, located on the Maunakea volcano in Hawaii, a very popular and often controversial location for ground-based telescopes. The students came from two local institutions, Waiākea High School and Volcano School of Arts and Sciences, and had access to the telescope through the Hōkūlani Project internship. They named their discovery Nā ‘Uhane Māhoe Huki Pū i ke Ola, which translates as “The twin spirits that come together creating life.” Learning about the impressive scientific discoveries that Maunakea made possible, ignited our own spirits as we prepared for life after high school,” said Samantha Silva-Sampaio, one of the students, in a statement. The students also explain how the rest of the name fits with their time at Gemini North. “Huki Pū,” they say, has to do with the physical aspect of the two galaxies coming together, as well as the communities that come together to enable discovery as a whole. And “i ke Ola” aims to show that life can be created from interacting galaxies because this process gives rise to the birth of stars, and hopefully one day we will find a star besides the sun that hosts life in a world around it. You may like Why is it incredible? The galaxy merger represented in the image is formally known as NGC 7253 and is located about 200 million light years from Earth in the constellation of Pegasus. This region is also known as the constellation Hawaiian Ka Lupe or Kawelo. What is especially spectacular about the image we see above is the sharpness with which both galaxies appear during their gravitational interaction. It is also a pleasure to be able to live in a time when we can see an event that happens so far away in such detail. However, galaxy mergers are not something new. They occur throughout the universe and, in fact, even the Milky Way and our neighboring galaxy Andromeda are expected to collide. “‘Uhane. ” In this image he reminds us that astronomy is not just science or spirit; They are both things at the same time,” said Manu Silva-Sampaio, another of the student discoverers, in the statement.
