Peculiar Galaxy

A peculiar galaxy is a galaxy which is unusual in its size, shape, or composition. Peculiar galaxies come about as a result of interactions between galaxies, and they may contain atypical amounts of dust or gas, may have higher or lower surface brightness than a typical galaxy, or may have features such as nuclear jets. They can be highly irregular in shape due to the immense gravitational forces which act on them during encounters with other galaxies. Peculiar galaxies are designated by "p" or "pec" in some catalogs.

Peculiar galaxies have been mapped by Halton Arp. Arp says that "The peculiarities of the galaxies pictured in this Atlas represent perturbations, deformations, and interactions which should enable us to analyze the nature of the real galaxies which we observe and which are too remote to experiment on directly".

Famous quotes containing the words peculiar and/or galaxy:

    The poet is no tender slip of fairy stock, who requires peculiar institutions and edicts for his defense, but the toughest son of earth and of Heaven, and by his greater strength and endurance his fainting companions will recognize the God in him. It is the worshipers of beauty, after all, who have done the real pioneer work of the world.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    for it is not so much to know the self
    as to know it as it is known
    by galaxy and cedar cone,
    as if birth had never found it

    and death could never end it:
    Archie Randolph Ammons (b. 1926)