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Credit & Copyright: R Jay Gabany
(Blackbird Observatory) - collaboration;
D.Martinez-Delgado(IAC,
MPIA),
J.Penarrubia (U.Victoria) I. Trujillo (IAC) S.Majewski (U.Virginia), M.Pohlen (Cardiff)
Explanation:
Grand tidal streams of stars seem to surround galaxy
NGC 5907.
The arcing structures form tenuous loops extending more than 150,000
light-years from the narrow, edge-on spiral, also known as the
Splinter
or Knife Edge Galaxy.
Recorded only in very deep exposures, the streams likely represent
the ghostly trail of a
dwarf
galaxy - debris left along the
orbit of a smaller satellite galaxy that was
gradually
torn apart and merged with NGC 5907 over four billion years ago.
Ultimately this remarkable discovery image, from a small robotic
observatory in New Mexico, supports the cosmological
scenario in
which large spiral galaxies,
including
our own Milky Way, were
formed by the accretion of smaller ones.
NGC 5907 lies about 40 million light-years distant in the northern
constellation
Draco.
J.Penarrubia (U.Victoria) I. Trujillo (IAC) S.Majewski (U.Virginia), M.Pohlen (Cardiff)
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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: NGC 5907 - spiral galaxy - merging galaxies
Publications with words: NGC 5907 - spiral galaxy - merging galaxies
See also: