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Universe of the Hubble Space Telescope 2000 Calendar

AM 1316­241 is a pair of galaxies located some 400 million light years away in the constellation Hydra. The pair consists of a spiral galaxy (on the left) in front of an elliptical galaxy (on the right). Bands and filaments of dust associated with the foreground spiral galaxy obscure starlight of the background elliptical galaxy, allowing the dust content of the spiral galaxy to be viewed in unusual detail. This image indicates that the dust is patchy and clumped and is confined to the spiral arms of the spiral galaxy. Spiral galaxies are known to contain large amounts of dust and gas, whereas elliptical galaxies are known not to contain large amounts of dust and gas.