This new image from the European Space Agency’s Euclid Space Telescope shows two large galaxies: NGC 646 and NGC 646b. They look like neighbors, but they are actually about 45 million light-years apart.
This Euclid image shows the barred spiral galaxy NGC 646 and the smaller, faint, round galaxy NGC 646b. Image source: ESA / Euclid / Euclid Consortium / NASA / M. Schirmer, MPIA / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.
NGC646 It is located about 392 million light-years away in the Hadros constellation.
This was a barred spiral galaxy find out On November 2, 1834 by British astronomer John Herschel.
Also known as ESO 80-2, IRAS 01357-6508, or LEDA 6010, it is moving away from us at a speed of about 8,145 kilometers per second.
“In this Euclidean image, NGC 646 appears near a smaller galaxy on the left, called… BGC6014 (NGC 646b),” Euclid Consortium members said in a statement.
“They look like neighbors, but they are actually about 45 million light-years away, with PGC 6014 at a distance of 347 million light-years from us.”
“Therefore, any gravitational interaction between them, if it exists, would be very weak and short-lived.”
By the end of 2026, ESA and the Euclid Union will release first-year observations, covering about 1,900 square degrees of sky (about 14% of the total survey area).
These images will reveal hundreds of thousands of galaxies in exquisite detail.
They will also provide new insights into how galaxies form and evolve, and why barred galaxies become more common as the universe ages.
“NGC 646 is actually very close compared to the billions of galaxies that Euclid will observe during its six-year mission,” the astronomers said.