New Hubble Image of Odd Galaxy Triplet

[n2doc]

By Betsy Mason April 8, 2010 | 1:24 pm | Categories: Space


It’s been a little while since the Hubble Space telescope bestowed a mind-blowing space photo on us, but this one was worth the wait.

This swirly, spooky, sparkly shot is of Messier 66, the largest of three spiral galaxies that make up the Leo triplet, 35 million light-years away. The galaxy measures around 100,000 light-years across and has odd, asymmetrical arms that were most likely pulled out of place by the gravity of the other two galaxies in the triplet.

The brown stripes are made up of dust, and the blue and pink bright areas in the galaxies are star clusters. Messier 66 is popular with astronomers because it has had an impressive three supernova explosions since 1989.




Read More http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/04/impressive-new-hubble-image-of-odd-galaxy-triplet/

[byronius]

1. Woah.

[Chulanowa]

2. A long time ago, I advocated cutting space programs out of the budget

Now, I want to go back, grab my younger self, and make him look at stuff like this.