The Tidal Stream
Explanation: Nearly 50 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major, NGC 4013 was long considered an isolated island universe. Seen edge-on, the gorgeous spiral galaxy was known for its flattened disk and central bulge of stars, cut by silhouetted dust lanes. But this deep color image of the region reveals a previously unknown feature associated with NGC 4013, an enormous, faint looping structure extending (above and toward the left) over 80 thousand light-years from the galaxy’s center. A detailed exploration of the remarkable structure reveals it to be a stream of stars originally belonging to another galaxy, likely a smaller galaxy torn apart by gravitational tides as it merged with the larger spiral. Astronomers argue that the newly discovered tidal stream also explains a warped distribution of neutral hydrogen gas seen in radio images of NGC 4013 and offers parallels to the formation of our own Milky Way galaxy.
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Thanks C, it’s nice to actually learn something from a site! The galaxy (galaxies) and space fascinate me. If you google “daily space photos”, it will give you a site where you can see a different photo taken in space daily. It is incredible, and very interesting.
The address for the site is antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov, which is where you prob got your story, because I just saw the same pic and story. Quite fascinating.
thanks agent d! i love astronomy, so i will add that to my bookmarks :) glad i can enlighten you occasionally with more than celebrity gossip.
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-c.
Thanks for the explanation! The picture almost looks unreal. Beautiful.
The truth is out there…….