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The Antennae Galaxies
These are two colliding galaxies that are about 62 million light years
from Earth. We present them as composite images from the Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Hubble Space Telescope and the
Spitzer Space Telescope.
This 100 million year old event is still occurring. It has triggered
the formation of millions of stars in clouds of dust and gas within the changing formations.
NGC 346
Where stars are born --- within the clusters and nebulae of the Small
Magelianic Cloud (a small satellite galaxy of our own Milky Way galaxy). It is a region that is about 200 light-years
across. It offers us a view of one of the areas where we can see the dramatic birth of new stars.
NGC 2818
A newer image of a famous planetary nebula. This interesting
formation can be found in the southern constellation Pyxis. It is the outer layer of a star that exploded and created
this energetic remnant.
The Orion Nebula
A special Hubble image of the Orion Nebula showing a field of view
that includes more than 3,000 stars. There are the stars, many that are newly born, and there are the gas and dust forms
carved by the stellar winds. And it is all more than 1,500 light-years from where we are here on Earth.
A giant ring of black holes
A composit image of "Arp 147," a pair of interacting galaxies
about 430 million light years from Earth. The picture is a combination of an image from the Hubble Space Telescope and from the
Chandra X-ray Observatory.
The strange configuration on the right was caused by a collision
with the ellipticval galaxy on the left. The back holes remain, following sppernova explosions and the creation of the
giant ring.
Only in the last few years has Humankind been able to view the Universe in
this way --- with all of its breathless beauty.
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