Radio Galaxy Zoo Talk

Real galaxy pile-up!

  • JeanTate by JeanTate

    I wonder how many of these galaxies are within the extended stellar reaches of the giant elliptical (no doubt a cD), and how many are merely projected onto it? Sure is a cool sight. 😄 Centered on SDSS J141735.53+020311.5:

    enter image description here

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  • ivywong by ivywong scientist, admin

    You can approximate their relative positions using their spectroscopic redshifts but peculiar motions will confuse matters 😃

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  • JeanTate by JeanTate in response to ivywong's comment.

    Now if they were galaxies with lots of (cold) gas (plasma) and dust, their colors and spectra - especially if taken with an IFU - might help to sort out which are 'in front' and which 'behind'; however, as they're (almost) all ETGs, little chance of that! 😦

    Though some may be foreground Milky Way stars, which spectra could easily differentiate ...

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  • 42jkb by 42jkb scientist, admin in response to JeanTate's comment.

    You would be better to hit this up with a long slit spectrograph as you could get them all in one go.

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