High school students participating in the joint Gemini Observatory and University of Hawaiʻi Project Hōkūlani internship program selected, researched, and named a pair of colliding galaxies NGC 7253 and Arp 278. The galaxy pair, located approximately 200 million light-years away in the constellation Pegasus, was designated Nā ʻUhane Māhoe Huki Pū i ke Ola, which translates to "The Twin Spirits Pulling Together Creating Life." The name reflects both Hawaiian cultural traditions and the astronomical phenomenon of the galaxies' collision.
The Gemini North telescope on Maunakea, Hawaiʻi, captured the image of the merging galaxies in sharp detail with its 8.1-meter mirror. The two spiral galaxies are locked in a mutual gravitational embrace, their spectacular collision occurring on a galactic scale. The galaxy pair lies within a region of Pegasus identified as Ka Lupe o Kawelo in Hawaiian navigational constellations.
Galaxy collisions trigger intense star formation from galactic reservoirs of elemental building blocks, according to the Astronomy Picture of the Day description. The merging galaxies in this image exemplify this cosmic phenomenon captured by the Gemini North telescope.
