NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection

X-Rays From Antennae Galaxies

A bevy [ http://www.ojohaven…] of black holes [ http://chandra.harv…blackholes_stellar.h tml ] and neutron stars [ http://astroe.gsfc.…binaries/neutron_sta r_structure.html ] shine as bright, point-like sources against bubbles [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] of million degree gas in this false-color x-ray image [ http://chandra.harv…] from the orbiting Chandra Observatory [ http://chandra.harv…index.html ]. The striking picture spans about 80 thousand light-years across the central regions of two galaxies, NGC 4038 and NGC 4039, locked in a titanic collision some 60 million light-years away in the constellation Corvus [ http://chandra.harv…animations.html ]. In visible light images [ http://hubblesite.o…1997/34/image/p ], long, luminous, tendril-like structures emanating from the wreckage lend the pair their popular moniker, the Antennae Galaxies [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. Galactic collisions are now thought to be fairly common [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], but when they happen individual stars rarely collide. Instead gas and dust clouds merge and compress, triggering furious bursts of massive star formation [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] with thousands of resulting supernovae. The exploding stars litter the scene with bubbles of shocked gas enriched in heavy elements [ http://arxiv.org/ab…], and collapsed stellar cores. Transfixed by this cosmic accident [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] astronomers watch and are beginning to appreciate the collision-driven evolution [ http://chandra.harv…animations.html ] of galaxies, not unlike our own.

G. Fabbiano (CfA) et al. [ http://arxiv.org/ab…], CXC [ http://chandra.harv…], SAO [ http://cfawww.harva…], NASA [ http://www.nasa.gov/]

Antennae Galaxies

NGC 4038

NGC 4039

Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)

Washington, D.C.

Visible Light

Corvus

http://antwrp.gsfc.…

SPD-APOD-ap040203