Credit & Copyright: GMOS-S Commissioning Team,
Gemini Observatory
Explanation:
Sometimes galaxies form groups.
For example, our own
Milky Way Galaxy is part of the
Local Group of Galaxies.
Small, compact groups, like Hickson Compact Group 87
(HCG 87)
shown above,
are interesting partly because they slowly self-destruct.
Indeed, the galaxies of
HCG
87 are gravitationally stretching each other during their 100-million year
orbits around a common center.
The pulling creates colliding gas that causes bright bursts of
star formation and feeds matter into their
active galaxy centers.
HCG 87
is composed of a large
edge-on
spiral galaxy visible near the image center, an
elliptical galaxy
visible to its right, and a
spiral galaxy visible near the top.
The small spiral near the center might be far in the distance.
Several stars from
our Galaxy are also visible in the foreground.
Studying groups like HCG 87 allows insight into how all
galaxies form and evolve.
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