NASA. DEEP SPACE. LARGE FORMAT. HUBBLE TELESCOPE. The galact - Lot 231

NASA. DEEP SPACE. LARGE FORMAT. HUBBLE TELESCOPE. The galactic wreckage in Stephan's Quintet. A clash between the members of a famous quintet of galaxies reveals an assortment of stars in a wide range of colors, from young blue stars to aging red ones. This portrait of Stephan's quintet, also known as the Hickson 92 compact group, was taken by the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) installed shortly before 2010 aboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Stephan's quintet, as the name suggests, is a group of five galaxies. However, this name is not entirely accurate. Studies have shown that the group member at top left is actually a foreground galaxy that is about seven times closer to Earth than the rest of the group. Three of the galaxies have distorted shapes, elongated spiral arms and long gaseous tidal tails containing a myriad of star clusters, evidence of their close encounters. These interactions have triggered a frenzy of star birth in the central pair of galaxies. This drama is played out against a backdrop of distant galaxies. The image, taken in the visible and near-infrared, illustrates WFC3's wide range of wavelengths. The colors trace the age of stellar populations, showing that the birth of stars occurred at different times, spanning hundreds of millions of years. The camera's infrared vision also allows us to see, through curtains of dust, groups of stars invisible in visible light. The galaxy at top right is a barred spiral with distinct spiral arms that follow almost 180 degrees towards the bar. The blue dots in the upper spiral arm det the red dots just above and to the right of the nucleus are clusters of several thousand stars. Most of the Quintet is too far away for Hubble to resolve the individual stars. Continuing clockwise, the next galaxy appears to have two nuclei, but they are in fact two galaxies. Surrounding the galaxies are young, bright-blue star clusters and pinkish clouds of glowing hydrogen, where young stars are born. These stars are less than 10 million years old and have not yet blown away their native clouds. Far from the galaxies, on the right, is an area of intergalactic space where numerous star clusters are forming. The galaxy at bottom left is a normal-looking elliptical galaxy, less affected by interactions. Finally, the dwarf galaxy, top left, contrasts sharply with these galaxies. Bursts of star formation are occurring in the galaxy's disk, as shown by the blue and pink dots. The distance of these galaxies varies between 40 million and 300 million years from Earth. 2009. Vintage chromogenic print. Numbering on front. Label on back. 60.9 x 50.8CM with margins.