Astronomic Appetite: Hubble Telescope Spots Spectacular 'Cannibal Galaxy'

© Flickr / Hubble ESAThe elegant simplicity of NGC 4111, seen here in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope
The elegant simplicity of NGC 4111, seen here in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope - Sputnik International
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A breathtaking new picture of an unusual galaxy was made by the Hubble Space Telescope. The cannibal galaxy called NGC 4111 is located at a distance of 50 million light years away from Earth in the constellation Canes Venatici.

The Earth straddling the limb of the Moon, as seen from above Compton crater. Center of the Earth in this view is 4.04°N, 12.44°W, just off the coast of Liberia. The large tan area in the upper right is the Sahara desert, and just beyond is Saudia Arabia. The Atlantic and Pacific coasts of South America are visible to the left. WAC E1199291151C (Earth only), NAC M1199291564LR (Earth and Moon); sequence start time 12 October 2015 12:18:17.384 UTC - Sputnik International
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The galaxy belongs to a relatively rare type of "star megapolis", a so called lenticular galaxy which is a mixture of elliptical and spiral galaxies.

At first glance, NGC 4111 looks like quite ordinary, but some of its features indicate that it is not as quiet as it seems.

In the image, the galaxy is surrounded by a ring of dust and gas, which as astronomers assume, are left over from a smaller dwarf galaxy which NGC 4111 absorbed in the past.

Researchers argue that the absorption process could take place as a result of the collision of galaxies, which is quite a common occurrence in space.

Usually such collisions lead to a merger of the galaxies or the destruction of a smaller one. The phenomenon of large galaxies swallowing up smaller galaxies is often called galactic cannibalism.

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