Overview

• ASKAP data from the WALLABY survey mapped neutral hydrogen linking NGC 4532 and DDO 137 about 53 million light-years from Earth.
• The trailing gas tail stretches roughly 1.6 million light-years, described by the team as the longest of its kind observed.
• The interacting system is designated WALLABY J123424+062511 in the northern NGC 4636 field near the galaxy M49.
• Neutral hydrogen, a tracer of star-forming fuel, reveals a faint bridge plus diffuse arms and clouds connecting into the extended tail.
• The peer-reviewed results appear in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society and offer a nearby analog to the Milky Way–Magellanic system.