ADVT:

  Home   Astrology   Business   Indiafocus   Lifestyle   Movies   News   Parenting   Online Exam   Sports   Travel

News HomeWorldEurope
Hubble captures 2 galaxies dancing intricately
Wednesday, October 31, 2007 15:30 [IST]

London: It can be called celestial tango -- two vast galaxies performing intricate dance almost 300 million light years from the Earth. The image, captured by the Hubble space telescope, shows that with the arm of one galaxy wrapped gently around the body of the other, the pair are slowly swinging around in a graceful performance choreographed by gravity.

The two galaxies are vast clouds of stars and gas and collectively known as Arp 87. Each of the two galaxies contains billions of stars and both are spiral shaped. According to the image, stars, gas and dust are flowing from the larger galaxy on the right, forming an arm which envelopes its smaller neighbour. "The resolution in the Hubble image shows exquisite detail and fine structure that was not observable when Arp 87 was first discovered in the 1970's," the Daily Mail reported today, quoting a spokesman for Nasa as saying.

In fact, Arp 87 was originally discovered by astronomer Halton Arp in the 1970s. "Some merging galaxies have the highest levels of star formation we can find anywhere in the nearby universe," said the spokesman. The dancing galaxies is just the latest in a long line of spectacular space pictures captured by the Hubble but the shapes of both galaxies has also been distorted over billions of years by their gravitational interaction with each other. Since its launch on a space shuttle in 1990, the orbiting telescope has sent back pictures of our system, vast star nurseries, far distant stars and remote galaxies, invisible from the Earth.


Source : PTI

Add To

digg.com

del.icio.us

stumbleupon.com

My Yahoo

reditt.com

newsvine.com

fark.com
 Post Your Feedback   
Name
Email ID
Comments
 Other Features
News today
Screen Sever
Gallery
WallPaper
Print this page
Mail this page
Archives


  
More News
Orgin of species kept on toilet...
Grand wedding keeps police on...
Why is China assertive, PM...
Bloodbath in the name of...
Brawl in assembly over Liberhan...
One year since 26/11 the agony...
India unsatisfied with status...
Vajpayee was not investigated,...
FICCI signs agreements with...
Eunuchs too have a right to...
Manmohan Singh asks Pakistan...
Flag march to remember 26/11...
Pregnant woman paraded naked,...
Mamta defends hefty salaries
A rare love story!
Lok Sabha adjourned over...
Liberhan report in this...
China coal mine blast: 104...
China mine blast death toll 104
Govt to help obese woman in...
Red alert at Guj Kandla oil...