Hubble: Merging galaxies and droplets of starbirth

[bystander]

[i][b]Image credit: NASA, ESA/Hubble and Grant Tremblay (ESO)[/b] Acknowledgement: M. Gladders & M. Florian (U Chicago), S. Baum, C. O'Dea & K. Cooke (RIT), M. Bayliss (CfA), H. Dahle (U Oslo), T. Davis (ESO), J. Rigby (NASA/GSFC), K. Sharon (U Michigan), E. Soto (CUA) and E. Wuyts (MPE).[/i]

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ESA/HEIC: Merging Galaxies and Droplets of Starbirth

The Universe is filled with objects springing to life, evolving and dying explosive deaths. This new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope captures a snapshot of some of this cosmic movement. Embedded within the egg-shaped blue ring at the centre of the frame are two galaxies. These galaxies have been found to be merging into one and a "chain" of young stellar superclusters are seen winding around the galaxies’ nuclei.

HubbleSite: Spiral Bridge of Young Stars Between Two Ancient Galaxies
Hubble Heritage: Galaxy Cluster SDSS J1531+3414
RIT: Diving for Pearls with the Hubble Space Telescope

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A Thirty Kiloparsec Chain of "Beads on a String" Star Formation Between Two
Merging Early Type Galaxies in the Core of a Strong-Lensing Galaxy Cluster - Grant R. Tremblay et al

• arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:1407.2251 > 08 Jul 2014

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