Post by glactus on Jun 2, 2011 18:52:44 GMT
The Cartwheel galaxy
The Cartwheel Galaxy (also known as ESO 350-40) is a lenticular galaxy about 500 million light-years away in the constellation of Sculptor. Apparent magnitude is 15.2, The galaxy was discovered by Fritz Zwicky in 1941. When it was discovered, Zwicky considered it to be "one of the most complicated structures awaiting its explanation on the basis of stellar dynamics."An estimation of the galaxy's span resulted in a conclusion of 150,000 light years, which is slightly larger than the Milky Way.
Four different observations
The brightest X-ray sources are likely black holes with companion stars, and appear as the white dots that lie along the rim of the X-ray image. The Cartwheel contains an exceptionally large number of these black hole binary X-ray sources, because many massive stars formed in the rim.
Cartwheel with companions
The unusual shape of the Cartwheel Galaxy may be due to a collision with a smaller galaxy such as those in the lower left of the image. The most recent star burst (star formation due to compression waves) has lit up the Cartwheel rim, which has a diameter larger than the Milky Way. Star formation via starburst galaxies, such as the Cartwheel Galaxy, results in the formation of large and extremely luminous stars.
The Cartwheel
Credits: These are NASA/Hubble images.
Text by Wikipedia