Astronomy Picture of the Day
Posted By admin On February 28, 2011 @ 8:15 pm In Photo Essays | Comments Disabled
[1]
Stephan’s Quintet
Image Data: Hubble Legacy Archive [2], ESA [3], NASA [4]; Processing: Hunter Wilson [5]
Explanation: The first identified compact galaxy group, Stephan’s Quintet [6] is featured in this eye-catching image [7] constructed with data drawn from the extensive Hubble Legacy Archive [2]. About 300 million light-years away, only four galaxies of the group are actually locked in a cosmic dance of repeated close encounters. The odd man out is easy to spot [8], though. The four interacting galaxies [9] (NGC 7319, 7318A, 7318B, and 7317 [10]) have an overall yellowish cast and tend to have distorted loops and tails [11], grown under the influence of disruptivegravitational tides [12]. But the larger bluish galaxy, NGC 7320, is much closer than the others. Just 40 million light-years distant, it isn’t part of the interacting group. In fact, individual stars in the foreground galaxy can be seen in the sharp Hubble view, hinting that it is much closer than the others. Stephan’s Quintet lies within the boundaries of the high flying constellation Pegasus [13].
Visit the NASA/JPL website to view more Astronomy Pictures of the Day [14]
Article printed from Recorder Online: http://www.berthoudrecorder.com
URL to article: http://www.berthoudrecorder.com/2011/02/28/astronomy-picture-of-the-day-22/
URLs in this post:
[1] Image: http://www.berthoudrecorder.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/stephquintet_hwilson2048.jpg
[2] Hubble Legacy Archive: http://hla.stsci.edu/
[3] ESA: http://www.esa.int/
[4] NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/
[5] Hunter Wilson: http://hwilson.zenfolio.com/f129011888
[6] Stephan’s Quintet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephan%27s_Quintet
[7] this eye-catching image: http://hwilson.zenfolio.com/p187515715/h18520d37#h18520d37
[8] easy to spot: http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2009/25/image/c/
[9] interacting galaxies: http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2001/22/video/
[10] NGC 7319, 7318A, 7318B, and 7317: http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2001/22/image/h/format/large_web/
[11] loops and tails: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090426.html
[12] gravitational tides: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap081115.html
[13] constellation Pegasus: http://www.hawastsoc.org/deepsky/peg/index.html
[14] Astronomy Pictures of the Day: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/
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