Gigantic cosmic cataclysm in Stephan's Quintet of galaxies

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The central region of Stephan's Quintet, showing the complex web of galaxy-galaxy and galaxy-intergalactic medium interactions. The intergalactic shock wave, triggered by the 1000 km/s infall velocity of the intruder galaxy NGC7319b, is delineated by the ridge of Hydrogen emission (shown in green) which runs vertically through this image. NGC7319b is the compact blob, seen both in optical light (coded blue) and in infrared continuum (coded red) immediately to the right of this ridge. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Recent infrared observations made with NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have revealed the presence of a huge intergalactic shock wave, or "sonic boom" in the middle of Stephan's Quintet, a group of galaxies which is now the scene of a gigantic cosmic cataclysm. This discovery, made by an international research team including scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics (MPIK) in Heidelberg, provides a local view of what might have been going on in the early universe, when vast mergers and collisions between galaxies were commonplace.

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All News summaries for March 03, 2006