Dwarf galaxies linked by massive intergalactic gas bridge
Researchers from The University of Western Australia node at the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research have uncovered an immense structure, which spans an astonishing 185,000 light-years between galaxies NGC 4532 and DDO 137, located 53 million light-years from Earth.
The study, published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, also revealed that a vast tail of gas accompanied the bridge, extending 1.6 million light-years, making it the longest-ever observed.
The observations were part of the Widefield ASKAP L-band Legacy All-sky Survey which maps the sky and studies the distribution of hydrogen gas in galaxies, using the ASKAP radio telescope.
Co-author and ICRAR UWA astrophysicist Professor Kenji Bekki said researchers discovered the colossal gas formations by using high-resolution observations of neutral hydrogen.