Astronomy+--+Galaxies

=1. Photographs and a brief explanation of different types of galaxies= =[]=



=A composite image of the Messier 81 (M81) galaxy shows what astronomers call a "grand design" spiral galaxy,= =where each of its arms curls all the way down into its center. Located about 12 million light-years away, in the Ursa Major constellation, M81 is among the brightest of the galaxies visible by telescope from Earth.= =Photograph courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA/Harvard-Smithsonian CfA=

=2. Sidney Girls High School Astronomy Club (Sidney, Australia) and NGC 6872 with IC 4970=



=This is the APOD: Astronomy Picture of the Day website from April 3, 2011.= =Following is the brief Expert Explanation of this Gemini Observatory Astronomical "Cosmic Color Portrait= =from the 8 meter Gemini South Telescope located in Chile, South America.=

=**Explanation:**=

Over 400,000 light years across [|NGC 6872 is] an [|enormous spiral galaxy], at least 4 times the size of our own,
==very large, Milky Way. About 200 million light-years distant, toward the southern constellation Pavo, the Peacock, the remarkable [|galaxy's stretched out shape]==

is due to its ongoing gravitational interaction, likely leading to an eventual merger, with the nearby smaller [|galaxy IC 4970].
==IC 4970 is seen just below and right of the giant galaxy's core in [|this cosmic color portrait] from the 8 meter [|Gemini South telescope]== ==in Chile. The idea to image this titanic galaxy collision comes from a [|winning contest essay] submitted last year to the [|Gemini Observatory]==

4. and the extent of dust and gas present in these galaxies".
=(//Editor's note:// For Australian schools, [|2011 contest information is here.])=



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