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Antennae Galaxies
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Hubble has snapped the best ever image of the Antennae Galaxies. Hubble
has released images of these stunning galaxies twice before, once using
observations from its Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) in 1997,
and again in 2006 from the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). Each of
Hubble’s images of the Antennae Galaxies has been better than the last,
due to upgrades made during the famous servicing missions, the last of
which took place in 2009.
The galaxies — also known as NGC 4038 and NGC 4039 — are locked in a
deadly embrace. Once normal, sedate spiral galaxies like the Milky Way, the
pair have spent the past few hundred million years sparring with one another.
This clash is so violent that stars have been ripped from their host galaxies to
form a streaming arc between the two. In wide-field images of the pair the
reason for their name becomes clear — far-flung stars and streamers of gas
stretch out into space, creating long tidal tails reminiscent of antennae.
This new image of the Antennae Galaxies shows obvious signs of chaos.
Clouds of gas are seen in bright pink and red, surrounding the bright flashes
of blue star-forming regions — some of which are partially obscured by
dark patches of dust. The rate of star formation is so high that the Antennae
Galaxies are said to be in a state of starburst, a period in which all of the gas
within the galaxies is being used to form stars. This cannot last forever and
neither can the separate galaxies; eventually the nuclei will coalesce, and
the galaxies will begin their retirement together as one large elliptical galaxy.
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
Visit Hubble here on Earth
Artifacts from the Hubble Space Telescope, and models of the
telescope, may be viewed by the public at two locations.
At the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex in Florida, a high
fidelity model of Hubble is displayed alongside Space Shuttle
Atlantis.
Among the items on display at National Air and Space Museum
on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., are:
• The Hubble Space Telescope Structural Dynamic Test Vehicle
(SDTV), essentially a copy of the spacecraft used for testing
everything from handling procedures to ensuring wiring
harnesses bound for the flight vehicle fit properly.
• The Primary Mirror (flight spare), correctly polished
• An IMAX camera used by shuttle crew.
• The HST-PCU Trainer, used by astronauts on the ground to
practice the difficult task of replacing the Power Control Unit
during servicing mission
• The original Wide Field Planetary Camera 1 is also a part of the
NASM collection, although it is not always on display.