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Fire Within the Antennae Gal
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| Title |
Fire Within the Antennae Galaxies |
| Description |
This false-color image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope reveals hidden populations of newborn stars at the heart of the colliding "Antennae" galaxies. These two galaxies, known individually as NGC 4038 and 4039, are located around 68 million light-years away and have been merging together for about the last 800 million years. The latest Spitzer observations provide a snapshot of the tremendous burst of star formation triggered in the process of this collision, particularly at the site where the two galaxies overlap. The main image is a false-color composite of infrared data from Spitzer and visible-light data from Kitt Peak National Observatory, Tucson, Ariz. Visible light from stars in the galaxies (blue and green) is shown together with infrared light from warm dust clouds heated by newborn stars (red). The two nuclei, or centers, of the merging galaxies show up as yellow-white areas, one above the other. The brightest clouds of forming stars lie in the overlap region between and left of the nuclei. The upper right panel shows the Spitzer image by itself. This picture was taken by the infrared array camera and is a combination of infrared light ranging from 3.6 microns (shown in blue) to 8.0 microns (shown in red). The dust emission (red) is by far the strongest feature in this image. Starlight was systematically subtracted from the longer wavelength data (red) to enhance dust features. The lower right panel shows the true-color, visible-light image by itself. Here, we find a strikingly different view, with the bright star-forming features seen in the Spitzer image buried within dark clouds of dust. Throughout the sky, astronomers have identified many of these so-called "interacting" galaxies, whose spiral discs have been stretched and distorted by their mutual gravity as they pass close to one another. The distances involved are so large that the interactions evolve on timescales comparable to geologic changes on Earth. Observations of such galaxies, combined with computer models of these collisions, show that the galaxies often become forever bound to one another, eventually merging into a single, spheroidal-shaped galaxy. In the Spitzer image, wavelengths of 3.6 microns are represented in blue, 4.5 microns in green and 5.8-8.0 microns in red. In the composite image, wavelengths of .44 microns are represented in blue, .70 microns in green and 8.0 microns in red. The Spitzer image was taken on Dec. 24, 2003. |
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Fire Within the Antennae Gal
…
| Title |
Fire Within the Antennae Galaxies |
| Description |
This false-color image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope reveals hidden populations of newborn stars at the heart of the colliding "Antennae" galaxies. These two galaxies, known individually as NGC 4038 and 4039, are located around 68 million light-years away and have been merging together for about the last 800 million years. The latest Spitzer observations provide a snapshot of the tremendous burst of star formation triggered in the process of this collision, particularly at the site where the two galaxies overlap. The main image is a false-color composite of infrared data from Spitzer and visible-light data from Kitt Peak National Observatory, Tucson, Ariz. Visible light from stars in the galaxies (blue and green) is shown together with infrared light from warm dust clouds heated by newborn stars (red). The two nuclei, or centers, of the merging galaxies show up as yellow-white areas, one above the other. The brightest clouds of forming stars lie in the overlap region between and left of the nuclei. The upper right panel shows the Spitzer image by itself. This picture was taken by the infrared array camera and is a combination of infrared light ranging from 3.6 microns (shown in blue) to 8.0 microns (shown in red). The dust emission (red) is by far the strongest feature in this image. Starlight was systematically subtracted from the longer wavelength data (red) to enhance dust features. The lower right panel shows the true-color, visible-light image by itself. Here, we find a strikingly different view, with the bright star-forming features seen in the Spitzer image buried within dark clouds of dust. Throughout the sky, astronomers have identified many of these so-called "interacting" galaxies, whose spiral discs have been stretched and distorted by their mutual gravity as they pass close to one another. The distances involved are so large that the interactions evolve on timescales comparable to geologic changes on Earth. Observations of such galaxies, combined with computer models of these collisions, show that the galaxies often become forever bound to one another, eventually merging into a single, spheroidal-shaped galaxy. In the Spitzer image, wavelengths of 3.6 microns are represented in blue, 4.5 microns in green and 5.8-8.0 microns in red. In the composite image, wavelengths of .44 microns are represented in blue, .70 microns in green and 8.0 microns in red. The Spitzer image was taken on Dec. 24, 2003. |
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Fire Within the Antennae Gal
…
| Title |
Fire Within the Antennae Galaxies |
| Description |
This false-color image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope reveals hidden populations of newborn stars at the heart of the colliding "Antennae" galaxies. These two galaxies, known individually as NGC 4038 and 4039, are located around 68 million light-years away and have been merging together for about the last 800 million years. The latest Spitzer observations provide a snapshot of the tremendous burst of star formation triggered in the process of this collision, particularly at the site where the two galaxies overlap. The main image is a false-color composite of infrared data from Spitzer and visible-light data from Kitt Peak National Observatory, Tucson, Ariz. Visible light from stars in the galaxies (blue and green) is shown together with infrared light from warm dust clouds heated by newborn stars (red). The two nuclei, or centers, of the merging galaxies show up as yellow-white areas, one above the other. The brightest clouds of forming stars lie in the overlap region between and left of the nuclei. The upper right panel shows the Spitzer image by itself. This picture was taken by the infrared array camera and is a combination of infrared light ranging from 3.6 microns (shown in blue) to 8.0 microns (shown in red). The dust emission (red) is by far the strongest feature in this image. Starlight was systematically subtracted from the longer wavelength data (red) to enhance dust features. The lower right panel shows the true-color, visible-light image by itself. Here, we find a strikingly different view, with the bright star-forming features seen in the Spitzer image buried within dark clouds of dust. Throughout the sky, astronomers have identified many of these so-called "interacting" galaxies, whose spiral discs have been stretched and distorted by their mutual gravity as they pass close to one another. The distances involved are so large that the interactions evolve on timescales comparable to geologic changes on Earth. Observations of such galaxies, combined with computer models of these collisions, show that the galaxies often become forever bound to one another, eventually merging into a single, spheroidal-shaped galaxy. In the Spitzer image, wavelengths of 3.6 microns are represented in blue, 4.5 microns in green and 5.8-8.0 microns in red. In the composite image, wavelengths of .44 microns are represented in blue, .70 microns in green and 8.0 microns in red. The Spitzer image was taken on Dec. 24, 2003. |
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Fire Within the Antennae Gal
…
| Title |
Fire Within the Antennae Galaxies |
| Description |
This false-color image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope reveals hidden populations of newborn stars at the heart of the colliding "Antennae" galaxies. These two galaxies, known individually as NGC 4038 and 4039, are located around 68 million light-years away and have been merging together for about the last 800 million years. The latest Spitzer observations provide a snapshot of the tremendous burst of star formation triggered in the process of this collision, particularly at the site where the two galaxies overlap. The main image is a false-color composite of infrared data from Spitzer and visible-light data from Kitt Peak National Observatory, Tucson, Ariz. Visible light from stars in the galaxies (blue and green) is shown together with infrared light from warm dust clouds heated by newborn stars (red). The two nuclei, or centers, of the merging galaxies show up as yellow-white areas, one above the other. The brightest clouds of forming stars lie in the overlap region between and left of the nuclei. The upper right panel shows the Spitzer image by itself. This picture was taken by the infrared array camera and is a combination of infrared light ranging from 3.6 microns (shown in blue) to 8.0 microns (shown in red). The dust emission (red) is by far the strongest feature in this image. Starlight was systematically subtracted from the longer wavelength data (red) to enhance dust features. The lower right panel shows the true-color, visible-light image by itself. Here, we find a strikingly different view, with the bright star-forming features seen in the Spitzer image buried within dark clouds of dust. Throughout the sky, astronomers have identified many of these so-called "interacting" galaxies, whose spiral discs have been stretched and distorted by their mutual gravity as they pass close to one another. The distances involved are so large that the interactions evolve on timescales comparable to geologic changes on Earth. Observations of such galaxies, combined with computer models of these collisions, show that the galaxies often become forever bound to one another, eventually merging into a single, spheroidal-shaped galaxy. In the Spitzer image, wavelengths of 3.6 microns are represented in blue, 4.5 microns in green and 5.8-8.0 microns in red. In the composite image, wavelengths of .44 microns are represented in blue, .70 microns in green and 8.0 microns in red. The Spitzer image was taken on Dec. 24, 2003. |
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Super Star Clusters in the A
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| Title |
Super Star Clusters in the Antennae Galaxies |
| General Information |
What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. This new NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of the Antennae galaxies is the sharpest yet of this merging pair of galaxies. During the course of the collision, billions of stars will be formed. The brightest and most compact of these star birth regions are called super star clusters. The new image allows astronomers to better distinguish between the stars and super star clusters created in the collision of two spiral galaxies. |
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The Antennae Galaxies in Col
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| Title |
The Antennae Galaxies in Collision |
| Explanation |
Two galaxies are squaring off in Corvus [ http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/constellations/corvus.html ] and here are the latest pictures [ http://heritage.stsci.edu/2006/46/index.html ]. When two galaxies collide [ http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=351 ], 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.nasa.gov/apod/ap060630.html ], however, one galaxy can rip the other apart gravitationally, and dust [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030706.html ] and gas [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020129.html ] common to both galaxies does collide. In the above clash [ http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/2006/46/ ] of the titans [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titans ], dark dust pillars [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050424.html ] mark massive molecular clouds [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060409.html ] are being compressed during the galactic encounter [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap001102.html ], causing the rapid birth of millions of stars, some of which are gravitationally bound together in massive star clusters [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap021229.html ]. |
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Fire within the Antennae Gal
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PIA06854
Infrared Array Camera (IRAC)
| Title |
Fire within the Antennae Galaxies |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This false-color image composite from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope reveals hidden populations of newborn stars at the heart of the colliding "Antennae" galaxies. These two galaxies, known individually as NGC 4038 and 4039, are located around 68 million light-years away and have been merging together for about the last 800 million years. The latest Spitzer observations provide a snapshot of the tremendous burst of star formation triggered in the process of this collision, particularly at the site where the two galaxies overlap. The image is a composite of infrared data from Spitzer and visible-light data from Kitt Peak National Observatory, Tucson, Ariz. Visible light from stars in the galaxies (blue and green) is shown together with infrared light from warm dust clouds heated by newborn stars (red). The two nuclei, or centers, of the merging galaxies show up as yellow-white areas, one above the other. The brightest clouds of forming stars lie in the overlap region between and left of the nuclei. Throughout the sky, astronomers have identified many of these so-called "interacting" galaxies, whose spiral discs have been stretched and distorted by their mutual gravity as they pass close to one another. The distances involved are so large that the interactions evolve on timescales comparable to geologic changes on Earth. Observations of such galaxies, combined with computer models of these collisions, show that the galaxies often become forever bound to one another, eventually merging into a single, spheroidal-shaped galaxy. Wavelengths of 0.44 microns are represented in blue, .70 microns in green and 8.0 microns in red. This image was taken on Dec. 24, 2003. |
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