NASA’s orbiting Chandra X-Ray Observatory snapped this shot of Stephan’s Quintet, a group of five galaxies, four of which are currently in collision. Follow the link for a larger picture.
Previously on Neatorama:
The Hand of God
Smiley Face Galaxy
ted
I think I see Michael Jackson’s ghost. Can you see him smiling to the right of the blue stars?
Johnny Cat
Actually, ted, the grouping to the left of the blue stars looks like MJ, if the artists from Coraline had designed it. Otherwise, a very inspiring photograph.
Johnny Cat
The Chandra gets such good images, with a little help from the Hawaiian scope, one wonders why we need Hubble anymore.
Him
And that folks, is why I want to help expand our horizons to the outer reaches of space.
buma
A dumb question, but how do the experts know the four galaxies are not merely aligned with each other when veiwed from our vantage point?
Paula
buma, there are several ways to check that, one of the best ones is redshift – it’s, roughly, a measure of distance along line of sight. If they have similar redshifts, then they are interacting.
You can look for signs of interaction – see that bright blue bumpy strip in the middle? that’s star formation triggered by the interaction!
I do merger of galaxies for a living. any questions, please dont hesitate!
ted
You do merger of galaxies for a living? Do you charge by the galaxy, or the number of stars in the galaxy?
Stability Analysis
That’s a gorgeous picture! I’m gonna set it as my wallpaper
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zav
