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Astronomy Picture of the Day - The Antennae Galaxies in Collision
APOD.NASA.gov ^ | 3 Dec, 2020 | Image Credit: ESA/Hubble NASA

Posted on 12/03/2020 3:29:36 PM PST by MtnClimber

Explanation: Sixty million light-years away toward the southerly constellation Corvus, these two large galaxies are colliding. The cosmic train wreck captured in stunning detail in this Hubble Space Telescope snapshot takes hundreds of millions of years to play out. Cataloged as NGC 4038 and NGC 4039, the galaxies' individual stars don't often collide though. Their large clouds of molecular gas and dust do, triggering furious episodes of star formation near the center of the wreckage. New star clusters and interstellar matter are jumbled and flung far from the scene of the accident by gravitational forces. This Hubble close-up frame is about 50,000 light-years across at the estimated distance of the colliding galaxies. In wider-field views their suggestive visual appearance, with extended structures arcing for hundreds of thousands of light-years, gives the galaxy pair its popular name, The Antennae Galaxies.


TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science; Society
KEYWORDS: apod; astronomy; nasa; ngc4038; ngc4039; science
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To be added or removed from the Astronomy Picture of the Day ping list please send me a request via "Private Reply" (Mail).

For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then zoom by moving the magnifying glass over an area and then clicking. The side bars will move the zoomed area over the photograph.

1 posted on 12/03/2020 3:29:36 PM PST by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber

2 posted on 12/03/2020 3:29:56 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: 21stCenturion; 21twelve; 4everontheRight; abb; AFB-XYZ; America_Right; Art in Idaho; AZ .44 MAG; ...
Pinging the APOD list.

🪐 🌟 🌌


3 posted on 12/03/2020 3:30:36 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber
A wider view to show how this pair got their names.


4 posted on 12/03/2020 3:33:29 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

Man God’s got an arm that would make Hulk Hogan envious:-)


5 posted on 12/03/2020 3:33:40 PM PST by Harpotoo (Being a socialist is a lot easier than having to WORK like the rest of US:-))
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To: MtnClimber

Looks like an otter wrapped in Christmas lights....eating a cheeseburger.


6 posted on 12/03/2020 3:35:06 PM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer”)
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To: blueunicorn6

That is what I see too! Amazing!!


7 posted on 12/03/2020 3:38:31 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

Two incredible images!

Thanks for posting.


8 posted on 12/03/2020 3:42:10 PM PST by ETL (REAL Russia collusion! DEMOCRAT-Russia collusion!! Click ETL...)
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To: MtnClimber

DQotd.....Did this happen 60 million light years ago?


9 posted on 12/03/2020 3:42:24 PM PST by sanjuanbob
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To: MtnClimber

I know!

It’s like we have ESPN or something!


10 posted on 12/03/2020 3:51:30 PM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer”)
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To: MtnClimber

This one is trickier.

Looks like a seagull.....eating a cheeseburger.


11 posted on 12/03/2020 3:54:10 PM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer”)
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To: ETL

ETL, if you are the last person to leave NYC, are you going to turn off the lights so you can see some stars before you go?


12 posted on 12/03/2020 3:59:02 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

Lol!
I actually saw the Milky Way once here in NYC. It was during a blackout around 15 or so years ago. And if that wasn’t special enough, a few years later, I caught a glimpse of the northern lights from Central Park! They were faint, but I clearly see a shimmering red curtain of light with ‘spokes’. The spokes were earth’s magnetic field lines! Will never forget it.


13 posted on 12/03/2020 4:05:09 PM PST by ETL (REAL Russia collusion! DEMOCRAT-Russia collusion!! Click ETL...)
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To: MtnClimber

Which one had the right of way?


14 posted on 12/03/2020 4:43:17 PM PST by SuperLuminal (Where is Sam Adams now that we desperately need him)
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To: MtnClimber

Any chance one of those galaxies will collide with Uranus?


15 posted on 12/03/2020 5:07:15 PM PST by Old Yeller (Release the Kraken..)
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To: blueunicorn6

I see Moose and Cheese.


16 posted on 12/03/2020 5:42:50 PM PST by Bullish (CNN is what happens when 8th graders run a cable network.)
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To: MtnClimber

Thank you! ;-)


17 posted on 12/03/2020 6:28:56 PM PST by spel_grammer_an_punct_polise (I always refer to Otto Preminger's quote about actors: "Actors are like cattle!")
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To: MtnClimber

Thanks for posting.

(I think that its time to change the name of Uranus back to the original name Ouranos.)


18 posted on 12/03/2020 8:17:03 PM PST by Pete from Shawnee Mission ( )
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To: MtnClimber

Bed time!

#spacemusic #spaceambient #sleepmusic
Space Ambient Music 24/7 LIVE: 🎧 Relaxing Space Music for Sleep, Meditation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHGIlstqXMA


19 posted on 12/03/2020 8:18:15 PM PST by Pete from Shawnee Mission ( )
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To: ETL

Beautiful. I will plug it into my Google sky app and check the area out this weekend in Central lake, MI. Yes, Antrim county.


20 posted on 12/03/2020 8:55:07 PM PST by Michigan Bowhunter
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