RocketSTEM Issue #11 - April 2015 | Page 103

Violent 57. history of NGC 7714 NGC 7714 is a spiral galaxy 100 million light-years from Earth — a relatively close neighbour in cosmic terms. The galaxy has witnessed some violent and dramatic events in its recent past. Tell-tale signs of this brutality can be seen in NGC 7714’s strangely shaped arms, and in the smoky golden haze that stretches out from the galactic centre — caused by an ongoing merger with its smaller galactic companion NGC 7715, which is out of the frame of this image. Credit: ESA, NASA Spiral 58. galaxy M81 This Hubble Space Telescope photo shows the majestic spiral galaxy M81. In the midsts of this galaxy is the supernova 1993J which was recently found to have a companion star which had been hidden in the glow of the supernova for 21 years. Credit: NASA, ESA, A. Zezas (CfA), and A. Filippenko (UC Berkeley)