A galaxy ripped apart

The hapless, mangled galaxy may have once looked more like our Milky Way, a pinwheel-shaped galaxy. But now that it's caught in a cosmic Cuisinart, its dust lanes are being stretched and warped by the tug of gravity. Unlike the elliptical galaxies, the spiral is rich in dust and gas for the formation of new stars. It is the fate of the spiral galaxy to be pulled like taffy and then swallowed by the pair of elliptical galaxies. This will trigger a firestorm of new stellar creation.



http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/arc...leases/2009/10



HubbleSite - NewsCenter - Trio of Galaxies Mix It Up (03/03/2009) - Introduction