Close-up: Galaxy NGC 3256 in Vela | Hubble Space Telescope
This video pans over NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope observations of the starburst galaxy NGC 3256, located about 100 million light-years from Earth. The galaxy is the result of a merger between galaxies with similar masses. Although the collision is estimated to have happened 500 million years ago, the galaxy still bears the marks of this event: luminous tails of gas and dust surround the galaxy and in its center, new stars are born at a rapid rate.
NGC 3256 is an impressive example of a peculiar galaxy that is actually the relict of a collision of two separate galaxies that took place in a distant past. The telltale signs of the collision are two extended luminous tails swirling out from the galaxy. NGC 3256 belongs to the Hydra-Centaurus supercluster complex and provides a nearby template for studying the properties of young star clusters in tidal tails. The system hides a double nucleus and a tangle of dust lanes in the central region. The tails are studded with a particularly high density of star clusters.
Release Date: May 31, 2018
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