wookie
11-05-2006, 09:01 PM
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html) Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
2006 November 5
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0611/ngc6745_hst.jpg (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0611/ngc6745_hst_big.jpg)
A Galaxy Collision in NGC 6745
Credit: NASA (http://www.nasa.gov/), ESA (http://www.spacetelescope.org/), and the Hubble Heritage Team (http://heritage.stsci.edu/commonpages/infoindex/ourproject/moreproject.html) (STScI (http://www.stsci.edu/institute/)/AURA (http://www.aura-astronomy.org/))-ESA/Hubble Collaboration
Acknowledgment: Roger Lynds (KPNO (http://www.noao.edu/kpno/kpno.html)/NOAO (http://www.noao.edu/)) et al. (http://heritage.stsci.edu/2000/34/bio/bio_primary.html) Explanation: Galaxies don't normally look like this. NGC 6745 (http://heritage.stsci.edu/public/2000nov2/ngc6745story.html) actually shows the results of two galaxies that have been colliding (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990722.html) for only hundreds of millions of years. Just off the above photograph (http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2000/2000/34/image/a/) to the lower right is the smaller galaxy, moving away. The larger galaxy, pictured above (http://heritage.stsci.edu/public/2000nov2/ngc6745table.html), used to be a spiral galaxy (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/spiral_galaxies.html) but now is damaged and appears peculiar (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980315.html). Gravity has distorted the shapes of the galaxies. Although it is likely that no stars in the two galaxies directly collided (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap061024.html), the gas, dust (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990509.html), and ambient magnetic fields (http://www-spof.gsfc.nasa.gov/Education/Imagnet.html) do interact directly. In fact, a knot (http://www.mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au/school/ties/ties.htm) of gas pulled off the larger galaxy on the lower right has now begun to form stars. NGC 6745 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_6745) spans about 80 thousand light-years across and is located about 200 million light-years (http://www.howstuffworks.com/question94.htm) away.
Discover the cosmos! (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html) Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
2006 November 5
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0611/ngc6745_hst.jpg (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0611/ngc6745_hst_big.jpg)
A Galaxy Collision in NGC 6745
Credit: NASA (http://www.nasa.gov/), ESA (http://www.spacetelescope.org/), and the Hubble Heritage Team (http://heritage.stsci.edu/commonpages/infoindex/ourproject/moreproject.html) (STScI (http://www.stsci.edu/institute/)/AURA (http://www.aura-astronomy.org/))-ESA/Hubble Collaboration
Acknowledgment: Roger Lynds (KPNO (http://www.noao.edu/kpno/kpno.html)/NOAO (http://www.noao.edu/)) et al. (http://heritage.stsci.edu/2000/34/bio/bio_primary.html) Explanation: Galaxies don't normally look like this. NGC 6745 (http://heritage.stsci.edu/public/2000nov2/ngc6745story.html) actually shows the results of two galaxies that have been colliding (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990722.html) for only hundreds of millions of years. Just off the above photograph (http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2000/2000/34/image/a/) to the lower right is the smaller galaxy, moving away. The larger galaxy, pictured above (http://heritage.stsci.edu/public/2000nov2/ngc6745table.html), used to be a spiral galaxy (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/spiral_galaxies.html) but now is damaged and appears peculiar (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980315.html). Gravity has distorted the shapes of the galaxies. Although it is likely that no stars in the two galaxies directly collided (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap061024.html), the gas, dust (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990509.html), and ambient magnetic fields (http://www-spof.gsfc.nasa.gov/Education/Imagnet.html) do interact directly. In fact, a knot (http://www.mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au/school/ties/ties.htm) of gas pulled off the larger galaxy on the lower right has now begun to form stars. NGC 6745 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_6745) spans about 80 thousand light-years across and is located about 200 million light-years (http://www.howstuffworks.com/question94.htm) away.