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Galaxy AM 0644–741 is a "ring galaxy" located some 300 million light years away toward the constellation Dorado. (Galaxy AM 0644–741 is the prominent galaxy encircled by the blue ring of stars in the upper right corner of the image. Two other prominent galaxies and many other less prominent galaxies are also visible in the image.) Ring galaxies are probably formed as the result of nearly head-on collisions between large, massive spiral galaxies and a smaller, less massive companion galaxies. The rings are produced from material thrown out from the larger galaxies as direct results of these collisions. Such collisions serve to trigger star formation, and the ring surrounding AM 0644–741 contains large numbers of hot, young stars concentrated in bright knots along the perimeter of the ring.
Image and text copyright © Astrographics. All rights reserved. Image courtesy of Space Telescope Science Institute. |
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