Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2021 January 26

                  Central NGC 1316: After Galaxies Collide
    Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble; Processing & Copyright: Daniel Nobre

   Explanation: How did this strange-looking galaxy form? Astronomers turn
   detectives when trying to figure out the cause of unusual jumbles of
   stars, gas, and dust like NGC 1316. Inspection indicates that NGC 1316
   is an enormous elliptical galaxy that somehow includes dark dust lanes
   usually found in a spiral galaxy. Detailed images taken by the Hubble
   Space Telescope shows details, however, that help in reconstructing the
   history of this gigantic tangle. Deep and wide images show huge
   collisional shells, while deep central images reveal fewer globular
   clusters of stars toward NGC 1316's interior. Such effects are expected
   in galaxies that have undergone collisions or merging with other
   galaxies in the past few billion years. The dark knots and lanes of
   dust, prominent in the featured image, indicate that one or more of the
   devoured galaxies were spiral galaxies. NGC 1316 spans about 50,000
   light years and lies about 60 million light years away toward the
   constellation of the Furnace (Fornax).

                      Tomorrow's picture: galaxy magnet
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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