The Mice

An interacting galaxy system, NGC4676 is nicknamed the Mice because of the long tails of stars drawn out by the mutual gravitational effect of each galaxy on the other. Perhaps the best match to the system's observed morphology comes from a numerical simulation of two identical disk galaxies interacting over a period of more than 300 million years. NGC4676 is also number 242 in the Arp atlas of peculiar galaxies and number 224 in Vorontsov-Vel'yaminov's catalog of interacting galaxies. NGC4676 is some 200 million light-years away in the direction of the constellation Coma Berenices. For convenience, this image is shown in a non-standard orientation, with north to the left and east down. This picture was obtained during the year 2000 Research Experiences for Undergraduates program, funded by the National Science Foundation, using the Kitt Peak National Observatory's 2.1-meter telescope.