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> Spiral galaxy ESO 510-13 in Hydra

Spiral galaxy ESO 510-13 in Hydra

author: Nasa/Hubble heritage team/Novapix

reference: a-gax95-00021

Image Size 300 DPI: 12 * 6 cm

ESO 510-G13 lies in the southern constellation Hydra, roughly 150 million light-years from Earth. Details of the structure of ESO 510-G13 are visible because the interstellar dust clouds that trace its disk are silhouetted from behind by light from the galaxy's bright, smooth central bulge. The strong warping of the disk indicates that ESO 510-G13 has recently undergone a collision with a nearby galaxy and is in the process of swallowing it. In the outer regions of ESO 510-G13, especially on the right-hand side of the image, we see that the twisted disk contains not only dark dust, but also bright clouds of blue stars. This shows that hot, young stars are being formed in the disk. Astronomers believe that the formation of new stars may be triggered by collisions between galaxies, as their interstellar clouds smash together and are compressed. Hubble space telescope image, 04/2001.

Keywords for this photo:

2001 - ASTRONOMY - EDGE-ON - ESO 510-13 - GALAXY - HST - HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE - HYDRA - SPIRAL GALAXY - STAR - STAR FORMATION -