Gallery: Space Photos of the Week: We've Got Collisions Aplenty
<a href="http://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1547a/">ESO</a>01SPoW-Dec11-01
This photo captures the gorgeous aftermath of a 360-million-year-old collision. Among the debris at the center is a rare and mysterious young dwarf galaxy. Astronomers suspect these sort of galaxies are very common in the early Universe, but are often too faint to see. Images like this will help researchers learn more about the objects normally too distant to be observed by current telescopes.
<a href="http://chandra.si.edu/photo/2015/ic443/">Credit: Wide Field Optical: Focal Pointe Observatory/B.Franke, Inset: X-ray: NASA/CXC/MSFC/D.Swartz et al, Inset: Optical: DSS, SARA</a>02SPoW-Dec11-03
The Jellyfish Nebula is a remnant of a supernova that happened over 10,0000 years ago. Recent observations discovered a strange object on the southern edge of the nebula. It’s likely a pulsar (a rapidly spinning neutron star) and might have formed the explosion that created the Jellyfish Nebula. The image features an x-ray close up of what is believed to be the possible location of the pulsar.
<a href="http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/jpl/pia17207/prometheus-up-close">NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute</a>03SPoW-Dec11-05
A high resolution, detail shot of Saturn’s moon Prometheus captured by the Cassini spacecraft on December 6. The image showcases the moon’s pockmarked surface. One of some 60 moons orbiting Saturn, Prometheus sits inside the planet’s narrow F ring.
<a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2015-365">NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA</a>04SPoW-Dec11-07
Ceres, one of the largest objects in the asteroid belt, has more than 130 bright spots. This representation of Ceres’ Occator Crater in false color highlights the differences in the surface. Studies suggest these bright spots are consistent with salts, such as sulfates, and were mostly like revealed through asteroid impacts.
<a href="https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1549a/">NASA & ESA, Acknowledgements: Judy Schmidt</a>05SPoW-Dec11-08
The spiral galaxy NGC 7252 has a strange, political nickname. It’s dubbed “the Atoms for Peace galaxy” in honor of Dwight D. Eisenhower’s 1953 speech on nuclear power and because of its superficial resemblance to an atomic nucleus surrounded by loops of electronic orbits. NGC 7252 is hardly peaceful however–created from a violent collision of two galaxies about a billion years ago. This photo highlights the NGC 7252’s inner parts, particularly the disc that is rotating in the opposite direction of the rest of the galaxy that’s believed to be remnants of the initial collision.
<a href="http://www.nasa.gov/feature/pluto-s-close-up-now-in-color">NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI</a>06SPoW-Dec11-10
Pluto gets another close-up, this time in full color. The enhanced color mosaic is a combination of the some of the sharpest views of Pluto from the New Horizons’ flyby on July 14. The image reveals features smaller than half a city block on the dwarf planet’s surface, capturing various cratered, mountainous and glacial terrains.
