Radio Supernovae in Arp 220

In November 1994 astronomers used a 17 station VLBI array to obtain this image of the western nucleus of Arp 220, the 220th object in Halton Arp's Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies. Arp 220 is an ultraluminous infrared galaxy 250 million light-years away in the constellation Serpens. It consists of two colliding spiral galaxies whose cores are about 1200 light years apart. The collision kicked up huge clouds of dust and gas obscuring the nuclei and requiring observations at radio wavelengths. This image shows roughly a dozen sources thought to be radio supernovae in the core of the western galaxy. It is compelling evidence of on-going intense new star formation, and gives us a look at a here-to-fore unobservable stage in galaxy evolution.

Legacy Astronomical Images

NRAO/AUI/NSF does not hold full copyright for this image. Contact the archivist for details.

Legacy Astronomical Image

Arp 220

C. Lonsdale, P. Diamond, C. Lonsdale, H. Smith

C. Lonsdale, P. Diamond, C. Lonsdale, H. Smith

Very Long Baseline Interferometry

1994-11-00

continuum

L

18 cm

1.6 GHz

RA 15:34:57.120, Dec: 23:30:11.500 (J2000)

0.000100 x 0.000100 degrees

Galaxies Series

Peculiar Unit