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Credit & Copyright: Hubble Heritage Team
(STScI/AURA),
C. Conselice (U. Wisconsin/STScI)
et al.,
NASA
Explanation:
How did spiral galaxy
ESO
510-13 get bent out of shape?
The disks of many spirals are
thin and flat, but not solid.
Spiral disks are loose conglomerations of
billions of stars and diffuse gas all
gravitationally
orbiting a galaxy center.
A flat disk is thought to be created by sticky collisions
of large gas clouds early in the
galaxy's formation.
Warped disks are not uncommon, though, and even our own
Milky Way Galaxy is
thought to have a small warp.
The causes of spiral warps are still being investigated,
but some warps are thought to result
from interactions or even
collisions between galaxies.
ESO 510-13,
pictured above digitally sharpened, is about 150 million light years away
and about 100,000
light
years across.
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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: spiral galaxy
Publications with words: spiral galaxy
See also: