Friday, July 01, 2005

Stephan’s Quintet


Stephan's Quintet as imaged by the Gemini Observatory using the Multi-Object Spectrograph on Gemini North. The interacting members of the cluster are almost 300 million light years away. The galaxy NGC 7320 (top–center) is thought by most astronomers to be in the foreground (about 8 times closer) and is distinguished in this image by multiple red blobs indicating hydrogen clouds where stars are forming. Orientation: North–bottom, East–right.
Galactic Contortionists Captured by Gemini

From the image gallery at the National Optical Astronomy Observatory.

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