Science Source Stock Photo - Arp 147, Interacting Galaxies, Composite

Arp 147, Interacting Galaxies, Composite

Description: These images show Arp 147, a pair of interacting galaxies some 430 million light years from Earth, as seen by the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope. The ring-shaped object on the right is a remnant of a spiral galaxy that collided with the elliptical galaxy to the left millions of years ago. This collision has produced an expanding wave of star formation containing an abundance of massive young stars. These stars race through their evolution in a few million years or less and explode as supernovas, leaving behind neutron stars and black holes. A fraction of the neutron stars and black holes will have companion stars, and may become bright X-ray sources as they pull in matter from their companions. The nine X-ray sources scattered around the ring in Arp 147 are so bright that they must be black holes, with masses that are likely ten to twenty times that of the Sun. Release date February 9, 2011.

Credit:

NASA/CXC/MIT/STScI/Science Source

Unique identifier: SS2576385

Legacy Identifier: BY5060

Type: Image

Size: 5400px × 2257px (~34 MB)

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