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Galaxy – NGC 1232

This spectacular image of the large spiral galaxy NGC 1232 was obtained on September 21, 1998, during a period of good observing conditions. It is based on three exposures in ultra-violet, blue and red light, respectively. The colours of the different regions are well visible: the central areas contain older stars of reddish colour, while the spiral arms are populated by young, blue stars and many star-forming regions. Note the distorted companion galaxy on the left side, shaped like the greek letter “theta”.

NGC 1232 is located 20º south of the celestial equator, in the constellation Eridanus (The River). The distance is about 100 million light-years, but the excellent optical quality of the VLT and FORS allows us to see an incredible wealth of details. At the indicated distance, the edge of the field shown corresponds to about 200,000 light-years, or about twice the size of the Milky Way galaxy.

Processing: The image is a composite of three images taken behind three different filters: U (360 nm; 10 min), B (420 nm; 6 min) and R (600 nm; 2:30 min) during a period of 0.7 arcsec seeing. The field shown measures 6.8 x 6.8 arcmin. North is up; East is to the left.

Media use and copyright: ESO

LISA – Laser Interferometer Space Antenna

LISA – Laser Interferometer Space Antenna

Background: a composition of the center of the milky way (custom composition of three different wavelengths images)and a deep star map by NASA’s scientific visualization studio; Earth: textures are from NASA blue marble, 3D rendering from Simon Barke; LISA constellation: Simon Barke

Media use and copyright: © NASA/JPL-Caltech/NASAEA/ESA/CXC/STScl/GSFCSVS/S.Barke (CC BY 4.0)

M31_Spiral_Galaxy

Galaxy – M31

The Andromeda Galaxy is a spiral galaxy approximately 2.5 million light-years (2.4Ă—1019 km) from Earth in the Andromeda Constellation. Also known as Messier 31, M31, or NGC 224, it is often referred to as the Great Andromeda Nebula in older texts. The Andromeda Galaxy is the nearest spiral galaxy to our own Milky Way galaxy, but not the closest galaxy overall. (from Wikipedia).

Media use and copyright:
Credit & Copyright: Jason Ware, NASA

arp274_hst_big

Galaxies – Spiral Colliding Arp 274

Two galaxies are squaring off in Virgo and here are the latest pictures. When two galaxies collide, the stars that compose them usually do not. This is because galaxies are mostly empty space and, however bright, stars only take up only a small fraction of that space. But during the collision, one galaxy can rip the other apart gravitationally. Dust and gas common to both galaxies do collide. If the two galaxies merge, black holes that likely resided in each galaxy center may eventually merge. Because the distances are so large, the whole thing takes place in slow motion — over hundreds of millions of years. Besides the two large spiral galaxies, a smaller third galaxy is visible on the far left of the above image of Arp 274, also known as NGC 5679. Arp 274 spans about 200,000 light years across and lies about 400 million light years away toward the constellation of Virgo.

Media use and copyright:
NASA, ESA, M. Livio (STScI) and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Supermassive black holes after merging

Supermassive black holes after merging

Artist’s impression of the aftermath of a merger between two supermassive black holes during a galaxy collision.

Combining the observing power of two future ESA missions, Athena and LISA, would allow us to study these cosmic clashes and their mysterious aftermath for the first time.

We could see the emergence of a new X-ray source, and perhaps witness the birth of an active galactic nucleus, with jets of high-energy particles being launched at close to the speed of light above and beyond the newly formed black hole.

Please visit ESA webpage for best resolution

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© ESA

gw170817-rendition

Cataclysmic Collision: LIGO and Virgo make first detection of gravitational waves from colliding neutron stars

Artist’s illustration of two merging neutron stars. The rippling space-time grid represents gravitational waves that travel out from the collision, while the narrow beams show the bursts of gamma rays that are shot out just seconds after the gravitational waves. Swirling clouds of material ejected from the merging stars are also depicted. The clouds glow with visible and other wavelengths of light.

Media use and copyright:
Image credit: NSF/LIGO/Sonoma State University/A. Simonnet

eso9845d_0
LISA – Laser Interferometer Space Antenna
M31_Spiral_Galaxy
arp274_hst_big
Supermassive black holes after merging
gw170817-rendition
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