Galaxy Blazes tagged posts

Galaxy Blazes with New Stars born from close encounter

New image of irregular galaxy NGC 4485 captured by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) and Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS).
Credit: NASA and ESA; Acknowledgment: T. Roberts (Durham University, UK), D. Calzetti (University of Massachusetts) and the LEGUS Team, R. Tully (University of Hawaii), and R. Chandar (University of Toledo)

The irregular galaxy NGC 4485 shows all the signs of having been involved in a hit-and-run accident with a bypassing galaxy. Rather than destroying the galaxy, the chance encounter is spawning a new generation of stars, and presumably planets.

The right side of the galaxy is ablaze with star formation, shown in the plethora of young blue stars and star-incubating pinkish nebulas. The left side, however, looks intact...

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