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Credit & Copyright: Andrew Cooper (MPA),
Carlos Frenk, John Helly, Shaun Cole
(Institute for
Computational Cosmology),
David Martinez-Delgado (MPIA), Star Stream Pilot Survey Group
Explanation:
Similar in size to the Milky Way,
elliptical galaxy NGC 7600 is about 150 thousand light-years distant.
In
this deep image, spanning about 1/2 degree on
the sky
toward the constellation Aquarius, NGC 7600 sports a remarkable
outer halo of nested shells and broad circumgalactic structures.
The tantalizing features can be explained by
the accretion of
dark matter and stars on
a cosmic timescale.
In fact, a movie generated by simulating galaxy formation using a
cosmological model with
cold
dark matter for the halos of merging galaxies
reproduces the appearance of NGC 7600 in amazing detail.
The remarkable simulation movie is
available here on Vimeo and
here in other
formats.
It presents compelling evidence that detailed features of
galaxy mergers observed with small, wide
field telescopes on planet Earth, are natural consequences of
galaxy formation and fundamental
properties of dark matter.
David Martinez-Delgado (MPIA), Star Stream Pilot Survey Group
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Elliptical Galaxy - dark matter - merging galaxies
Publications with words: Elliptical Galaxy - dark matter - merging galaxies
See also: