Todays pic is one another one with wow factor imo, as many of the other pics featured here, this one is also from the Hubble Space Telescope.
A Bird's Eye View of a Galaxy Collision
What appears as a bird's head, leaning over to snatch up a tasty meal, is a striking example of a galaxy collision in NGC 6745. The "bird" is a large spiral galaxy, with its core still intact. It is peering at its "prey," a smaller passing galaxy (nearly out of the field of view at lower right). The bright blue beak and bright, whitish-blue top feathers show the distinct path taken during the smaller galaxy's journey. These galaxies did not merely interact gravitationally as they passed one another; they actually collided.
This piccy is from the Hubble Heritage site and therefore has lots of different size pictures that are available for download, the other images and a full text write up can be found here. The images range in size, from 10KB up to 1.57MB. The full resolution pictures are really worth taking a look at.
Credit:NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Previous Pic Of The Day posts
30th Nov 03
29th Nov 03 Courtesy of Garp
28th Nov 03
10th Nov 03 Courtesy of Berserker
09th Nov 03 Courtesy of Berserker
08th Nov 03 Courtesy of Berserker
26th Sep 03
A Bird's Eye View of a Galaxy Collision
What appears as a bird's head, leaning over to snatch up a tasty meal, is a striking example of a galaxy collision in NGC 6745. The "bird" is a large spiral galaxy, with its core still intact. It is peering at its "prey," a smaller passing galaxy (nearly out of the field of view at lower right). The bright blue beak and bright, whitish-blue top feathers show the distinct path taken during the smaller galaxy's journey. These galaxies did not merely interact gravitationally as they passed one another; they actually collided.
This piccy is from the Hubble Heritage site and therefore has lots of different size pictures that are available for download, the other images and a full text write up can be found here. The images range in size, from 10KB up to 1.57MB. The full resolution pictures are really worth taking a look at.
Credit:NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Previous Pic Of The Day posts
30th Nov 03
29th Nov 03 Courtesy of Garp
28th Nov 03
10th Nov 03 Courtesy of Berserker
09th Nov 03 Courtesy of Berserker
08th Nov 03 Courtesy of Berserker
26th Sep 03
