APOD
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
Galaxies Collide in NGC 3256
Explanation: Galaxies don't normally look like this. NGC 3256 actually shows a current picture of two galaxies that are slowly colliding . Quite possibly, in hundreds of millions of years, only one galaxy will remain. Today, however, NGC 3256 shows intricate filaments of dark dust, unusual tidal tail s of stars, and a peculiar center that contains two distinct nuclei. Although it is likely that no stars in the two galaxies will directly collide , the gas, dust, and ambient magnetic fields do interact directly. NGC 3256 , part of the vast Hydra-Centaurus supercluster of galaxies , spans over 100 thousand light-years across and is located about 100 million light-years away.
| Date | May 6, 2008 |
|---|---|
| Credit | Credit: NASA , ESA , Hubble Heritage ( STScI / AURA ) - ESA /Hubble Collaboration, & A. Evans ( UVa , NRAO , SUNYSB ) |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |