Posted on 03/24/2016 5:45:51 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Explanation: Scanning the skies for galaxies, Canadian astronomer Paul Hickson and colleagues identified some 100 compact groups of galaxies, now appropriately called Hickson Compact Groups (HCGs). This sharp telescopic image captures one such galaxy group, HCG 91, in beautiful detail. The group's three colorful spiral galaxies at the center of the field of view are locked in a gravitational tug of war, their interactions producing faint but visible tidal tails over 100,000 light-years long. Their close encounters trigger furious star formation. On a cosmic timescale the result will be a merger into a large single galaxy, a process now understood to be a normal part of the evolution of galaxies, including our own Milky Way. HCG 91 lies about 320 million light-years away in the constellation Piscis Austrinus. But the impressively deep image also catches evidence of fainter tidal tails and galaxy interactions close to 2 billion light-years distant.
(Excerpt) Read more at 129.164.179.22 ...
[Credit and Copyright: CHART32 Team, Credit and Copyright: Johannes Schedler Johannes Schedler ]
Expect a visit from the fire marshal.
It has seems to me that if the Universe is constructed as Einstein, et al, says it is, then we should be able to ‘see’ our own galaxy from afar off, kind of like looking into a mirror and seeing your backside reflected in another mirror.
Couldn’t one of the galaxies we see in these beautiful pics from Hubble and other observers actually be US in the Milky Way? Of course the view we would have would be delayed by millions of light years, so that we would be seeing our own Milky Way as it was early in its formation.................
Piscis Austrinus means "southern fish." Or maybe "fish that speaks Austrian."
Pretty cool picture of the three-galaxy dance out there.
Great APOD, and I agree that The Big One is top drawer.
Thank you, Mr. Civilizations, for the post, ping, and
The Big One.
NASA needs to do things like this at times when they aren’t on the other side of the Sun.
This will be a good target for a scope...next fall.
The brightest galaxy in the photo is NGC 7214. Should be easy to see at 12 mag
About Fomalhaut. It also has a dusk disk around it and may have a planet system forming.
It also may have two widely spaced companion stars, on is TWPsA a variable star almost 1 light year away. The other suspect is almost 2.5 light years away, but, seems to also be bound with Famalhaut.
More study is needed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fomalhaut
It’s one of my favorite stars!
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