When two galaxies come close to each other, the gravitational forces between them can cause them to distort and deform. In the case of the tadpole galaxy, it is believed that the gravitational forces from the nearby galaxy have pulled material out of the galaxy, creating the long, thin tail-like structure.
This type of interaction is known as "tidal stripping," and it is thought to be responsible for the formation of many other tail-like structures in galaxies. As the two galaxies continue to interact, the tidal forces can cause more material to be pulled out of the tadpole galaxy, further elongating the tail.
Meteor & Milky Way over the Mediterranean. The night itself was chosen to occur during the beginning of the Perseid Meteor Shower in Le Dramont, France, situated near the ominously descending central band of our Milky Way Galaxy. Credit: Julien Looten
The image was created by shots photographer Jon Carmichael took while flying at 39,000 feet on a Southwest flight from Portland, Oregon, to St. Louis. Credit: Jon Carmichael
Meteor over Eleven Mile State Park, Colorado. Credit: Lars Leber Photography
Containing an incredible half-million stars, this 8-billion-year-old cosmic bauble is one of the largest and brightest globular clusters ever discovered. Credits: ESA/Hubble
The largest NASA Hubble Space Telescope image ever assembled, this sweeping bird’s-eye view of a portion of the Andromeda galaxy. Credit: NASA, ESA
Milky Way over Uruguayan Lighthouse. Credit: Mauricio Salazar
Milky-Way above the Monument Valley USA. Credits: Mads Peter Iversen
Clouds of Jupiter. Credits: (NASA/JPL-Caltech/ SwRI/MSSS/David Marriott)
The Tadpole galaxy by Hubble, Its eye-catching tail is about 280,000 light-years long. Also known as UGC 10214 and Arp 188, it is a disrupted barred spiral galaxy located 420 million light-years from Earth in the northern constellation Draco. Credit Image: NASA/ESA/HST/STScI.
On November 12, 1833, there was a meteor shower so intense that it was possible to see up to 100,000 meteors crossing the sky every hour. At the time, many thought it was the end of the world, so much so that it inspired this woodcut by Adolf Vollmy.
Davicho77 OP t1_jcsbw3p wrote
Reply to comment by the_fungible_man in Containing an incredible half-million stars, this 8-billion-year-old cosmic bauble is one of the largest and brightest globular clusters ever discovered. Credits: ESA/Hubble by Davicho77
Sorry about that. Is the Globular cluster Messier 3.