NGC 4651: The Umbrella Galaxy
Explanation:
It's raining stars.
What appears to be a giant cosmic umbrella
is now known to be a tidal stream of stars
stripped from a small
satellite galaxy.
The main galaxy, spiral galaxy
NGC 4651,
is about the size of our
Milky Way, while its stellar parasol appears to extend
some 100 thousand light-years above this galaxy's bright disk.
A small galaxy was likely torn apart by
repeated encounters as
it swept back and forth on eccentric orbits through NGC 4651.
The remaining stars will surely fall back and become part of a
combined larger galaxy
over the next few million years.
The featured image was
captured by the
Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope
(CFHT) in Hawaii,
USA.
The Umbrella Galaxy lies about 50 million
light-years
distant toward the
well-groomed northern constellation
Coma
Berenices.
Almost Hyperspace:
Random APOD Generator
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
