NASA Observation: Cartwheel's Massive Rings

[hypatia]

From NASA
Recently-observed features include concentric rings rippling out from the impact area in a series of star formation waves, ending in the outermost ring. "It's like dropping a stone into a pond, only in this case, the pond is the galaxy, and the wave is the compression of gas," said Appleton. "Each wave represents a burst of star formation, with the youngest stars found in the outer ring."

Previously, scientists believed the ring marked the outermost edge of the galaxy, but the latest Galaxy Evolution Explorer observations detect a faint disk, not visible in this image, that extends to twice the diameter of the ring. This means the Cartwheel is a monstrous 2.5 times the size of the Milky Way.

 

[hypatia]

posting the photo




from
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/starsgalaxies/galex-20060111.html

 

[varsha]

posting the photo
from
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/starsgalaxies/galex-20060111.html

it's really good!

"The dramatic plunge has left the Cartwheel galaxy with a crisp, bright ring around a zone of relative calm," said astronomer Phil Appleton of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif. "Usually a galaxy is brighter toward the center, but the ultraviolet view indicates the collision actually smoothed out the interior of the galaxy, concentrating older stars and dust into the inner regions. It's like the calm after the storm of star formation." The outer ring, which is bigger than the entire Milky Way galaxy, appears blue and violet in the image.

never heard of anything like this!
they are making a lot of new discoveries which is really good.

 

[hypatia]

And I love the color blasted photos!