Tadpole galaxy facts for kids
The Tadpole galaxy is a special kind of galaxy called a barred spiral galaxy. It gets its name because it looks a bit like a tadpole swimming in space! This galaxy is found in the Draco constellation, which is a group of stars that look like a dragon. The Tadpole galaxy is super far away, about 420 million light-years from Earth. That's an incredibly long distance!
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What is the Tadpole Galaxy?
A galaxy is a huge group of stars, gas, and dust held together by gravity. The Tadpole galaxy is a "barred spiral galaxy." This means it has a central bar-shaped structure made of stars. From this bar, spiral arms curve outwards, just like the arms of a pinwheel.
Why Does it Look Like a Tadpole?
The most interesting thing about the Tadpole galaxy is its long "tail." This tail is about 280,000 light-years long and is made of billions of bright blue stars. It also contains lots of gas and dust. Scientists believe this tail formed because the Tadpole galaxy crashed into a smaller galaxy.
The Galactic Collision
About 100 million years ago, a smaller galaxy passed right through the Tadpole galaxy. This collision didn't destroy either galaxy. Instead, the gravity from the smaller galaxy pulled stars, gas, and dust out of the Tadpole galaxy. This created the long, stretched-out tail we see today. The smaller galaxy, which caused all this, is thought to be hidden behind the Tadpole galaxy.
How Far Away is it?
The Tadpole galaxy is about 420 million light-years away from us. A light-year is the distance light travels in one year. Light travels incredibly fast, about 300,000 kilometers (186,000 miles) per second! So, 420 million light-years is an enormous distance. When we look at the Tadpole galaxy, we are seeing it as it was 420 million years ago. That's because the light from it has taken that long to reach Earth.
Finding the Tadpole Galaxy
You can find the Tadpole galaxy in the Draco constellation. A constellation is a pattern of stars that people have imagined in the night sky. The Draco constellation looks like a dragon winding around the North Star. While you can't see the Tadpole galaxy with your eyes, powerful telescopes like the Hubble Space Telescope have given us amazing pictures of it.
