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Image: Stephan's Quintet X-ray + Optical

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Description: Stephan's Quintet – A Galaxy Collision in Action Stephan's Quintet, a compact group of galaxies discovered about 130 years ago and located about 280 million light years from Earth, provides a rare opportunity to observe a galaxy group in the process of evolving from an X-ray faint system dominated by spiral galaxies to a more developed system dominated by elliptical galaxies and bright X-ray emission. Being able to witness the dramatic effect of collisions in causing this evolution is important for increasing our understanding of the origins of the hot, X-ray bright halos of gas in groups of galaxies.
Title: Stephan's Quintet X-ray + Optical
Credit: NASA Image of the Day Gallery, url=http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1408.html
Author: Image Credits: X-ray: NASA/CXC/CfA/E. O'Sullivan Optical: Canada-France-Hawaii-Telescope/Coelum
Permission: Images from NASA usually are free of copyright.
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No

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