NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection

The Antennae Galaxies in Collision

Two galaxies are squaring off in Corvus [ http://chandra.harv…] and here are the latest pictures [ http://heritage.sts…]. When two galaxies collide [ http://curious.astr…], however, the stars that compose them usually do not. This is because galaxies are mostly empty space and, however bright, stars only take up only a small amount of that space. During the slow, hundred million year collision [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], however, one galaxy can rip the other apart gravitationally, and dust [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] and gas [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] common to both galaxies does collide. In the above clash [ http://hubblesite.o…] of the titans [ http://en.wikipedia…], dark dust pillars [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] mark massive molecular clouds [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] are being compressed during the galactic encounter [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], causing the rapid birth of millions of stars, some of which are gravitationally bound together in massive star clusters [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…].

NASA [ http://www.nasa.gov/], ESA [ http://www.spacetel…], and the Hubble Heritage Team [ http://heritage.sts…] (STScI [ http://www.stsci.ed…]/AURA [ http://www.aura-ast…])-ESA/Hubble Collaboration

Antennae Galaxies

Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)

Aura

Corvus

Hubble Space Telescope (HST)

http://antwrp.gsfc.…

SPD-APOD-ap061024