About this Image
This dazzling space wallpaper of the Antennae
Galaxies shows obvious signs of chaos. Clouds of gas are seen in bright
pink and red, surrounding the bright flashes of blue star-forming
regions — some of which are partially obscured by dark patches of dust.
The rate of star formation is so high that the Antennae Galaxies are
said to be in a state of starburst, a period in which all of the gas
within the galaxies is being used to form stars. This cannot last
forever and neither can the separate galaxies; eventually the nuclei
will coalesce, and the galaxies will begin their retirement together as
one large elliptical galaxy.
This image uses visible and near-infrared observations from Hubble’s
Wide Field Camera 3, along with some of the previously-released
observations from Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys.
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
