Posts tagged "Galaxy"

• 

  unknownconstellation:

  The Cosmic Tadpole

  Above we see what can happen when massive objects like galaxies interact, and how that interaction can produce truly incredible sights. This is the Tadpole Galaxy, and at one point, it was a normal barred spiral galaxy, minding its own business, floating through the universe about 400 million light years away in the constellation Draco. 

  Somewhere along the way, it crossed paths with another galaxy, and after that we’ve only got speculation. The best idea is that their mutual gravity caused the companion galaxy to swing around the Tadpole, dragging millions of stars in its wake. The end result is the 280 thousand light-year-long tail, made entirely of stars, including several pockets of bright blue stars.

  And yes, astronomers do prefer the name Tadpole, because the Sperm Galaxy would be an awkward thing to put in the history books. I would have done it, though. We have the Sperm Whale, so in my mind a whole galaxy would be much better. Dare to dream

  -Devin.

  (via abcstarstuff)

  Cosmic Tadpole Galaxy Tadpole Galaxy space
  11 months ago reblog like 13 notes
• brain-food:

  NASA Hubble Space Telescope Images (via Hubble Heritage)

  (via itsfullofstars)

  Source brain-food
  space Hubble galaxies galaxy stars nebula
  11 months ago reblog like 32,520 notes
• 

  ikenbot:

  M51

  Copyright: Manuel Jimenez

  (via scinerds)

  Source kenobi-wan-obi
  M51 Galaxy space galaxies
  1 year ago reblog like 522 notes
• 

  into-theuniverse:

  Galaxies of the NGC 7771 group:

  NGC 7771: the edge-on spiral near center
  NGC 7769: face-on spiral to the right of center

  (via project-argus)

  Source apod.nasa.gov
  NGC 7771 NGC 7769 Galaxy Galaxies space
  1 year ago reblog like 76 notes
• 

  (via sagansense)

  Source gifmovie
  orbit space Milky Way Galaxy space
  1 year ago reblog like 26,476 notes
• 

  spacettf:

  ESO - eso0755a

  The Tinker Bell Triplet

  Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope, an international team of astronomers has discovered a stunning rare case of a triple merger of galaxies. This system, which astronomers have dubbed ‘The Bird’ - although it also bears resemblance with a cosmic Tinker Bell - is composed of two massive spiral galaxies and a third irregular galaxy.

  In this image, a 30-min VLT/NACO K-band exposure has been combined with archive HST/ACS B and I-band images to produce a three-colour image of the ‘Bird’ interacting galaxy system. The NACO image has allowed astronomers to not only see the two previously known galaxies, but to identify a third, clearly separate component, an irregular, yet fairly massive galaxy that seems to form stars at a frantic rate.

  Credit:

  ESO

  (via sagansense)

  Source spacettf
  eso0755a Galaxies Galaxy space ESO
  1 year ago reblog like 55 notes
• 

  unknownskywalker:

  NGC 4038 and NGC 4039 by César Cantú

  NGC 4038 and NGC 4039, better known as the Antennae galaxy, located over 70 million light years. The nuclei of both galaxies are joining to form a giant spiral galaxy. The object got its name from its two long stream of stars which resemble the antennae of insects.

  Source unknownskywalker
  NGC 4038 NGC 4039 space stars Galaxies Galaxy Antennae Galaxy
  1 year ago reblog like 67 notes
• 

  nasasapod:

  The Sombrero Galaxy in Infrared
  Credit: R. Kennicutt (Steward Obs.) et al., SSC, JPL, Caltech, NASA

  Explanation: This floating ring is the size of a galaxy. In fact, it is part of the photogenic Sombrero Galaxy, one of the largest galaxies in the nearby Virgo Cluster of Galaxies. The dark band of dust that obscures the mid-section of the Sombrero Galaxy in optical light actually glows brightly in infrared light. The above image, digitally sharpened, shows the infrared glow, recently recorded by the orbiting Spitzer Space Telescope, superposed in false-color on an existing image taken by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope in optical light. The Sombrero Galaxy, also known as M104, spans about 50,000 light years across and lies 28 million light years away. M104 can be seen with a small telescope in the direction of the constellation Virgo.

  Source nasasapod
  infrared Sombrero Galaxy Galaxy space NASA apod
  1 year ago reblog like 13 notes
• kidsneedscience:

  A Messier Object is an astronomical object first described by the great French astronomer Charles Messier in 1771. An insatiable comet hunter, Messier began his catalog of objects that were neither stars nor comets as a way of accounting for them and subsequently avoiding them as he searched for comets. With the help of his assistant Pierre Méchain, the first edition of the Catalogue des Nébuleuses et des Amas d’Étoiles (Catalogue of Nebulae and Star Clusters) contained 45 objects, mostly nebulae, galaxies and star clusters. According to Messier, who was waiting for the return of Halley’s Comet:

  What caused me to undertake the catalog was the nebula I discovered above the southern horn of Taurus on September 12, 1758, whilst observing the comet of that year. This nebula had such a resemblance to a comet in its form and brightness that I endeavored to find others, so that astronomers would no more confuse these same nebulae with comets just beginning to appear.

  Messier’s final publication included 103 objects, but the catalog was added to as recently as 1966, almost 200 years after his original publication! Today the catalog contains 110 objects and many objects are still referred to by their Messier number.

  All images in the public domain, courtesy NASA.

  (via uraniaproject)

  Source kidsneedscience
  space Messier Charles Messier 1771 Galaxies Galaxy Nebula Star Cluster NASA
  1 year ago reblog like 333 notes
• unknownskywalker:

  Ancient Galaxy Collision Created Enormous Stellar Swirls

  New simulations suggest that enormous swirls of stars surrounding a distant galaxy formed when two equal-sized galaxies collided. The galaxy, named NGC 5907, is located 50 million light-years away in the constellation Draco.

  Its loops and currents, containing stars, gas and dust, are 150,000 light-years across. Researchers studying these swirls previously thought they were formed when a relatively small galaxy hit a larger one, getting torn apart in the process.

  But in the new study, a massive computer simulation shows that it would have been impossible for a very small galaxy to produce the observed streams. More likely, two roughly equal-sized galaxies crashed into each other 8 or 9 billion years ago. The simulation also showed that the galaxies must have been very gas-rich in order to produce the swirls surrounding NGC 5907.

  Most large spiral galaxies are thought to have formed from similar processes. Over the history of the universe, smaller galaxies have collided with one another and merged, producing ever-larger galaxies. Our own Milky Way galaxy is headed on a crash course with the neighboring Andromeda galaxy in 4.5 billion years.

  Above: (1) Visible light image of NGC 5907. (2) Simulation of the collisions that produced NGC 5907 (1 Gyr = 1 billion years).

  (via project-argus)

  Source
  Galaxy space stars collision NGC 5907
  1 year ago reblog like 6,244 notes
• 

  mothernaturenetwork:

  One of our favorite photos from 2011: Colliding galaxies form exclamation point in space! The collision provides a model for how the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies will merge billions of years from now.

  Source mothernaturenetwork
  Space Galaxy Galaxies
  1 year ago reblog like 145 notes
• 

  galaxyshmalaxy:

  Hubble Pinpoints Farthest Protocluster of Galaxies Ever Seen (by NASA Goddard Photo and Video)

  (via project-argus)

  Source Flickr / gsfc
  Hubble Galaxies Galaxy Space NASA
  1 year ago reblog like 92 notes
• 

  scipsy:

  Andromeda galaxy in different wavelengths (A gif I made from this video by ESA)

  (via abcstarstuff)

  Source scipsy
  Andromeda Andromeda Galaxy Space ESA Galaxy
  1 year ago reblog like 210 notes
• scipsy:

  Messier 83 (or Southern Pinwheel Galaxy) is a barred spiral galaxy 15 million light-years away. (Sources: Hubble: 1/2/3; ESO) 

  The last image shows a region large approximately 10000 light-years.  

  The universe is quite big.

  Source scipsy
  M83 Messier 83 Galaxy Spiral Galaxy space Hubble
  1 year ago reblog like 273 notes
• 

  (via abcstarstuff)

  Source invaderxan
  Space Galaxy
  1 year ago reblog like 6 notes