In the beginning of the 1946 holiday film classic "It's a Wonderful Life," angelic figures take on the form of a famous group of compact galaxies known as Stephan's Quintet. In reality, these galaxies aren't so heavenly: Pictures from the Hubble telescope show that Stephan's Quintet has been doing some devilish things.
At least two of the galaxies have been involved in high-speed hit-and-run accidents which have ripped stars and gas from neighboring galaxies and tossed them into space.
But the galactic carnage also has spawned new life. Arising from the wreckage are more than 100 star clusters and several dwarf galaxies. The young clusters, each harboring up to millions of stars, are shown clearly for the first time in pictures taken by Hubble's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2.
Image files, animation and additional information are available at:
http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pr/2001/22
http://hubble.stsci.edu/go/news
http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/latest.html
http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pictures.html
The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. (AURA), for NASA, under contract with the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD. The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA).
[Contact: Donna Weaver, Sarah Gallagher, Jane Charlton, Barbara Kennedy]
20-Jul-2001
