Robby
02-07-2008, 11:46 AM
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0802/ngc4013_gabany_800.jpg (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0802/lrg_ring_ngc4013_gabany.jpg)
NGC 4013 and the Tidal Stream
Image Credit & Copyright: R Jay Gabany (http://www.cosmotography.com/index.html) (Blackbird Observatory) - collaboration; D.Martínez-Delgado(IAC (http://www.iac.es/), MPIA (http://www.mpia.de/Public/)),
M.Pohlen (Cardiff (http://www.astro.cardiff.ac.uk/)), S.Majewski (U.Virginia (http://www.astro.virginia.edu/)), J.Peñarrubia (U.Victoria (http://www.astro.uvic.ca/~jorpega/)), C.Palma (Penn State (http://www.psu.edu/))
Explanation: Nearly 50 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major, NGC 4013 was long considered an isolated island universe (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080124.html). Seen edge-on, the gorgeous spiral galaxy was known (http://heritage.stsci.edu/2001/07/caption.html) for its flattened disk and central bulge of stars, cut by silhouetted dust lanes. But this deep color image (http://www.cosmotography.com/images/small_ring_ngc4013.html) of the region reveals a previously unknown feature associated with NGC 4013, an enormous, faint looping structure extending (above and toward the left) over 80 thousand light-years from the galaxy's center. A detailed exploration (http://arxiv.org/abs/0801.4657) of the remarkable structure reveals it to be a stream of stars originally belonging to another galaxy, likely a smaller galaxy torn apart (http://burro.cwru.edu/JavaLab/GalCrashWeb/main.html) by gravitational tides as (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070727.html) it merged with the larger spiral. Astronomers argue that the newly discovered tidal stream also explains a warped distribution of neutral hydrogen gas seen in radio images (http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr162/lect/light/radio.html) of NGC 4013 and offers parallels (http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0703601) to the formation of our own Milky Way (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080104.html) galaxy.
(Via NASA) (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080207.html)
NGC 4013 and the Tidal Stream
Image Credit & Copyright: R Jay Gabany (http://www.cosmotography.com/index.html) (Blackbird Observatory) - collaboration; D.Martínez-Delgado(IAC (http://www.iac.es/), MPIA (http://www.mpia.de/Public/)),
M.Pohlen (Cardiff (http://www.astro.cardiff.ac.uk/)), S.Majewski (U.Virginia (http://www.astro.virginia.edu/)), J.Peñarrubia (U.Victoria (http://www.astro.uvic.ca/~jorpega/)), C.Palma (Penn State (http://www.psu.edu/))
Explanation: Nearly 50 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major, NGC 4013 was long considered an isolated island universe (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080124.html). Seen edge-on, the gorgeous spiral galaxy was known (http://heritage.stsci.edu/2001/07/caption.html) for its flattened disk and central bulge of stars, cut by silhouetted dust lanes. But this deep color image (http://www.cosmotography.com/images/small_ring_ngc4013.html) of the region reveals a previously unknown feature associated with NGC 4013, an enormous, faint looping structure extending (above and toward the left) over 80 thousand light-years from the galaxy's center. A detailed exploration (http://arxiv.org/abs/0801.4657) of the remarkable structure reveals it to be a stream of stars originally belonging to another galaxy, likely a smaller galaxy torn apart (http://burro.cwru.edu/JavaLab/GalCrashWeb/main.html) by gravitational tides as (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070727.html) it merged with the larger spiral. Astronomers argue that the newly discovered tidal stream also explains a warped distribution of neutral hydrogen gas seen in radio images (http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr162/lect/light/radio.html) of NGC 4013 and offers parallels (http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0703601) to the formation of our own Milky Way (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080104.html) galaxy.
(Via NASA) (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080207.html)