Technologies

NASA’s Hubble Captures Breathtaking Image of Intergalactic Bridge

An ethereal connection between two distant galaxies looks like it belongs in an episode of Star Trek.

Between black holes devouring smallish stars and vacant space surrounding busy, bursting nebulas, caverns of darkness in our universe are often relieved by glimmers of light. Such poetic juxtaposition is starkly apparent in one of NASA’s latest Hubble Space Telescope images.

Last week, the agency released an ethereal view of galactic triplet Arp 248, also known as Wild’s Triplet for both the discoverer and the utterly extravagant nature of the spectacle itself. Behold.

In this impeccable photo, two of three galaxies can be seen in the foreground of space’s void, bleeding into each other like they’re made of over-hydrated watercolor paint and forming what I can only describe as an intergalactic bridge. A third, unconnected realm stands in the far ground, enshrouded by deceptively tiny sparkles that represent a cosmic lifetime of even more galaxies scattered across the universe.

What’s especially mind-numbing about this image is that from Hubble’s vantage point — in Earth’s orbit, some 200 million light-years away — the three galaxies are compact enough to fit on our computer screens.

In reality, these worlds are many (many) light-years wide, holding an incomprehensible amount of doppelgangers to our sun, exoplanets like our solar system’s eight, and moons akin to our glowing lunar companion.

They are miniature universes in themselves, existing on a scale simply unfathomable to the human mind yet available for us to download as desktop wallpapers.

It is, in fact, because of those hefty contents that the two massive spirals at the centerpiece of this image are linked by a luminous bridge in the first place. Both harness immensely strong gravitational forces and are therefore pulling on each other like they’re playing a gentle tug of war, accidentally creating what’s known as a tidal tail, or an elongated stream of stars and iridescent interstellar dust.

Tidal tails are usually the product of galaxies treading very close to one another while on a path toward merging into one huge galaxy. We’ve seen the breathtaking phenomena several times already — tidal tails are responsible for some adorable galaxy systems names, too.

«The Mice,» or NGC 4676, boasts merging galaxies about 300 million light-years away from Earth, and «The Tadpole,» or UGC 10214, contains a large galaxy in the process of shredding a smaller galaxy, another event type that resulted in an awesome tidal tail.

Even our Milky Way galaxy is currently on a collision course with Andromeda, meaning they may eventually generate some sort of intergalactic bridge too — but don’t worry.

The emptiness between stars and planets within galaxies is far greater than you might think.

When galaxies merge, it’s quite likely only a few actual collisions happen. Think about two large crowds entering a stadium, merging into one massive crowd. Most of the time, individuals wouldn’t literally bump into each other. They just settle near each other. Now imagine the same situation, except with about a light-year of space between every person.

Fasincatingly, the title «Arp» in Arp 248 comes from the surname of late astronomer Halton Arp, who, along with astronomer Barry Madore, created the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies in 1966.

«Each collection contains a menagerie of spectacularly peculiar galaxies, including interacting galaxies such as Arp 248, as well as one- or three-armed spiral galaxies, galaxies with shell-like structures, and a variety of other space oddities,» NASA said of the atlas.

It’s a vast work filled with yet more examples of our wonderfully contrasted universe, an expanse built from the mind of a poet and condensed with the skill of a machine.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Saturday, Oct. 25

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Oct. 25.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? It’s the longest one of the week, and some of the answers are tricky. Read on for help. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Sword go-with
Answer: SHIELD

7A clue: Hamburger or Frankfurter, for example
Answer: GERMAN

8A clue: Sticky stuff on bark
Answer: TREESAP

10A clue: Hotel room pricing
Answer: RATE

11A clue: Classic arcade game of hopping between obstacles
Answer: FROGGER

14A clue: The «W» of the W.N.B.A.
Answer: WOMENS

15A clue: Looked after a pup
Answer: DOGSAT

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Drill instructor’s rank: Abbr.
Answer: SGT

2D clue: «___ Loss» (#1 album for Drake and 21 Savage)
Answer: HER

3D clue: Fury
Answer: IRE

4D clue: Appears on the scene
Answer: EMERGES

5D clue: Dish layered like this: sheet of noodles, sauce, cheese, repeat
Answer: LASAGNA

6D clue: Genetic screening procedure
Answer: DNATEST

9D clue: «As ___ my last email …»
Answer: PER

11D clue: Subject line abbreviation
Answer: FWD

12D clue: Aussie marsupial, for short
Answer: ROO

13D clue: «No wayyyy!»
Answer: OMG

Technologies

Verizon Offers New Internet Plan That Could Cost $25 Per Month

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Oct. 25, #397

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Oct. 25, No. 397.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a fun one. It helps if you’re familiar with the athletes of the Pacific Northwest. If you’re struggling but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: When you get hurt.

Green group hint: Beaver State.

Blue group hint: Not surnames, but…

Purple group hint: Think oxygen.