Hyperactive Galaxies In The Young Universe
This illustration compares the Milky Way with a compact galaxy in the early universe. Looking almost 11 billion years into the past, astronomers have measured the motions of stars for the first time in a very distant galaxy. They are whirling at a speed of one million miles per hour--about twice the speed of our Sun through the Milky Way. The galaxies are a fraction the size of our Milky Way, and so may have evolved over billions of years into the full-grown galaxies seen around us today.
Credit:NASA, ESA, and A. Feild (STScI) COMPARISON OF MILKY WAY WITH COMPACT GALAXY IN EARLY UNIVERSE (ARTIST'S ILLUSTRATION)
About the Image
Id: | gemini0904a |
Type: | Artwork |
Release date: | Aug. 5, 2009, 8 p.m. |
Related releases: | gemini0904 |
Size: | 2100 x 1517 px |
About the Object
Category: | Galaxies |