Credits: X-ray: NASA/CXC/CfA/E. O'Sullivan Optical: Canada-France-Hawaii-Telescope/Coelum

July 9, 2009 - Mauna Kea, Hawaii

A new look at Stephan's Quintet, a compact group of galaxies located about 280 million light years from Earth, was released by NASA on Thursday, and a telescope on Mauna Kea hand a hand in creating the astonishing image.

Four of the galaxies (NGC 7317, NGC 7318a, NGC 7318b and NGC 7319) in the group are visible in the optical image from the Canada-France- Hawaii Telescope. As galaxy NGC 7318b passes through the core of galaxies at almost 2 million miles per hour, it is thought to be creating the curved, light blue ridge running down the center of the image. The blue ridge is X-ray data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory, thought to be the X-ray ommissions of a gas heating shock wave caused by the galactic collision.

The NASA release says Stephan's Quintet provides a rare opportunity to observe a galaxy group in the process of evolving from an X-ray faint system dominated by spiral galaxies to a more developed system dominated by elliptical galaxies and bright X-ray emission. Being able to witness the dramatic effect of collisions in causing this evolution is important for increasing our understanding of the origins of the hot, X-ray bright halos of gas in groups of galaxies.