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Credit & Copyright: David
Martinez Delgado et al.
Explanation:
The twenty
galaxies
arrayed in these panels are part of
an ambitious astronomical survey of tidal stellar streams.
Each panel presents a composite view;
a deep, inverted image taken from publicly
available
imaging surveys
of a field that surrounds a
nearby massive galaxy image.
The inverted images reveal faint cosmic structures,
star streams hundreds of thousands of light-years across,
that result from the gravitational disruption and
eventual merger of satellite galaxies
in the
local
universe.
Such surveys of mergers and gravitational tidal interactions
between massive galaxies and their dwarf satellites are
crucial guides for
current models of galaxy formation and cosmology.
Of course, the detection of stellar streams in the
neighboring Andromeda Galaxy and
our own Milky Way
also offers spectacular evidence for ongoing satellite
galaxy disruption within our more
local
galaxy 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: galaxies
Publications with words: galaxies
See also:
- APOD: 2024 December 18 Á NGC 660: Polar Ring Galaxy
- APOD: 2024 April 15 Á The Cigar Galaxy from Hubble and Webb
- APOD: 2024 March 20 Á The Eyes in Markarians Galaxy Chain
- APOD: 2023 August 2 Á M82: Galaxy with a Supergalactic Wind
- In the Heart of the Virgo Cluster
- Comet Leonard and the Whale Galaxy
- NGC 3314: When Galaxies Overlap