|
|
The Lure of the Rings
| Title |
The Lure of the Rings |
| General Information |
What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ] |
|
The Lure of the Rings
| Title |
The Lure of the Rings |
| General Information |
What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ] |
|
The Lure of the Rings
| Title |
The Lure of the Rings |
| General Information |
What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ] |
|
The Lure of the Rings
| Title |
The Lure of the Rings |
| General Information |
What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ] |
|
The Lure of the Rings
| Title |
The Lure of the Rings |
| General Information |
What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ] |
|
The Lure of the Rings
| Title |
The Lure of the Rings |
| General Information |
What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ] |
|
The Lure of the Rings
| Title |
The Lure of the Rings |
| General Information |
What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ] |
|
The Lure of the Rings
| Title |
The Lure of the Rings |
| General Information |
What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ] |
|
The Lure of the Rings
| Title |
The Lure of the Rings |
| General Information |
What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ] |
|
The Lure of the Rings
| Title |
The Lure of the Rings |
| General Information |
What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ] |
|
The Lure of the Rings
| Title |
The Lure of the Rings |
| General Information |
What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ] |
|
The Lure of the Rings
| Title |
The Lure of the Rings |
| General Information |
What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ] |
|
The Lure of the Rings
| Title |
The Lure of the Rings |
| General Information |
What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ] |
|
Ring Galaxy AM 0644-741 Capt
…
| Name of Image |
Ring Galaxy AM 0644-741 Captured by Hubble Space Telescope |
| Date of Image |
2004-01-01 |
| Full Description |
Released to commemorate the 14th anniversary of NASA?s Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is the image of a galaxy cataloged as AM 0644-741. Resembling a diamond encrusted bracelet, the ring of brilliant blue star clusters wraps around a yellowish nucleus of what was once a normal spiral galaxy. Located 300 million light years away in the direction of the southern constellation Dorado, the sparkling blue ring is 150,000 light years in diameter, making it larger than our entire home galaxy, the Milky Way. Ring galaxies are a striking example of how collisions between galaxies can dramatically change their structure, while triggering the formation of new stars. Typically one galaxy plunges directly into the disk of another one. The ring that pierced through this galaxy?s ring is out of the image but is visible in larger-field images. The soft galaxy visible to the left of the ring galaxy is a coincidental background galaxy which is not interacting with the ring. Rampant star formation explains why the ring is so blue. It is continuously forming massive, young, hot stars. Another sign of robust star formation is the pink regions along the ring. These are rare clouds of glowing hydrogen gas, fluorescing because of the strong ultraviolet light from the newly formed stars. The Hubble Heritage Team used the Hubble Advanced Camera for Surveys to take this image using a combination of four separate filters that isolate blue, green, red, and near-infrared light to create the color image. |
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Ring Galaxy AM 0644-741 from
…
| Title |
Ring Galaxy AM 0644-741 from Hubble |
| Explanation |
How could a galaxy become shaped like a ring? The rim of the blue galaxy pictured [ http://heritage.stsci.edu/2004/15/caption.html ] on the right is an immense ring-like structure 150,000 light years [ http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/cosmic_distance.html ] in diameter composed of newly formed, extremely bright, massive stars. That galaxy, AM 0644-741 [ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1997ApJ...474..686H ], is known as a ring galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010612.html ] and was caused by an immense galaxy collision. When galaxies collide [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020506.html ], they pass through each other -- their individual stars rarely come into contact. The ring [ http://www.engagement-rings-guide.com/engagement-rings-history.html ]-like shape is the result of the gravitational disruption [ http://www.astro.umd.edu/~dcr/Research/tidal.html ] caused by an entire small intruder galaxy passing through a large one. When this happens, interstellar gas and dust [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030706.html ] become condensed, causing a wave of star formation [ http://www.sciam.com/askexpert_question.cfm?articleID=0008A68A-8C7F-1C72-9EB7809EC588F2D7 ] to move out from the impact point like a ripple across the surface of a pond. The intruder galaxy has since moved out of the frame taken by the Hubble Space Telescope [ http://www.stsci.edu/hst/HST_overview/ ] and released to commemorate [ http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/2004/15/image/a ] last Saturday's fourteenth anniversary of Hubble's launch. Ring galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020909.html ] AM 0644-741 lies about 300 million light years away. |
|
Ring Galaxy AM 0644-741 from
…
| Title |
Ring Galaxy AM 0644-741 from Hubble |
| Explanation |
How could a galaxy become shaped like a ring? The rim of the blue galaxy pictured [ http://heritage.stsci.edu/2004/15/caption.html ] on the right is an immense ring-like structure 150,000 light years [ http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/cosmic_distance.html ] in diameter composed of newly formed, extremely bright, massive stars. That galaxy, AM 0644-741 [ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1997ApJ...474..686H ], is known as a ring galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010612.html ] and was caused by an immense galaxy collision. When galaxies collide [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020506.html ], they pass through each other -- their individual stars rarely come into contact. The ring [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engagement_ring ]-like shape is the result of the gravitational disruption [ http://www.astro.umd.edu/~dcr/Research/tidal.html ] caused by an entire small intruder galaxy passing through a large one. When this happens, interstellar gas and dust [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030706.html ] become condensed, causing a wave of star formation [ http://www.sciam.com/askexpert_question.cfm?articleID=0008A68A-8C7F-1C72-9EB7809EC588F2D7 ] to move out from the impact point like a ripple across the surface of a pond. The intruder galaxy has since moved out of the frame taken by the Hubble Space Telescope [ http://www.stsci.edu/hst/HST_overview/ ] and released to commemorate [ http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/2004/15/image/a ] the anniversary of Hubble's launch in 1990. Ring galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020909.html ] AM 0644-741 lies about 300 million light years away. |
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