Accessibility Links

  • Skip to Main Content
  • Skip to Main Navigation
  • Skip to Footer
Magazine Podcasts TV show
Subscribe
    Subscribe
    Reviews
    Reviews
    View all Reviews
    How we review
    Telescopes
    Cameras
    Mounts
    Eyepieces
    Binoculars
    Finderscopes
    Accessories
    Software
    Top astro kit
    Advice
    Advice
    View all Advice
    Beginners
    Skills
    DIY
    Buyer's Guides
    Science
    Missions
    News
    Astrophotography
    Astrophotography
    View all Astrophotography
    Send us your images
    Magazine
    Podcasts
    TV show
    1. Home
    2. Galaxies

    Galaxies

    Galaxy IC 4653. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Rosario (CEA, Durham University)
    Astrophotography

    Eye On The Sky | Newborn stars glow in a galaxy 80 million lightyears from Earth

    Galaxy merger Arp-Madore 2026-424 (AM 2026-424). Credit: NASA, ESA, and J. Dalcanton, B.F. Williams, and M. Durbin (University of Washington)
    Astrophotography

    Eye On The Sky | Hubble spies a ghostly galactic collision

    Cosmic drag creates a jellyfish galaxy. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), P. Jachym (Czech Academy of Sciences) et al.
    Astrophotography

    Eye On The Sky | Cosmic drag creates a jellyfish galaxy

    Advertisement
    NGC 3351. Credit: ESO/R Leaman/D Gadotti/K Sandstrom/D Calzetti
    Astrophotography

    Eye On The Sky | A galaxy where stars are born...and die

    Spitzer spots nearby spiral galaxy M81. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
    Astrophotography

    Eye On The Sky | Spitzer spots nearby spiral galaxy M81

    An image of the Large Magellanic Cloud captured by the VISTA telescope. Credit: ESO/VMC Survey
    Astrophotography

    Eye On The Sky | New VISTA of our neighbouring galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud

    The Medusa merger. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Adamo
    Astrophotography

    Eye On The Sky | Hubble captures two galaxies colliding

    Spitzer Spots a Perfectly Sideways Galaxy. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
    Astrophotography

    Eye On The Sky | Spitzer views an edge-on galaxy in infrared

    Andromeda Galaxy, M31
    News

    Andromeda Galaxy’s last meal

    Advertisement
    Can you spot each of Patrick Moore's top galaxies to see in the night sky during autumn?
    Science

    Patrick Moore’s top 5 autumn galaxies

    Science

    What is the Milky Way?

    Andromeda Galaxy, Charles Thody, Pembrokeshire, 8 September 2015. Equipment: Modified Canon EOS 40D DSLR camera, Sky-Watcher Equinox-80 ED apo refractor, Sky-Watcher NEQ6 PRO SynScan mount.
    Science

    Readers’ images: top galaxy astrophotos

    Not all galaxies are neatly shaped, as this new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image of NGC 6240 clearly demonstrates. Hubble previously released an image of this galaxy back in 2008, but the knotted region, shown here in a pinky-red hue at the centre of the galaxies, was only revealed in these observations from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys. NGC 6240 lies 400 million light-years away in the constellation of Ophiuchus (The Serpent Holder). This galaxy has an elongated shape with branching wisps, loops and tails. This mess of gas, dust and stars bears more than a passing resemblance to a butterfly and, though perhaps less conventionally beautiful, a lobster. This bizarrely-shaped galaxy did not begin its life looking like this; its distorted appearance is a result of a galactic merger that occurred when two galaxies drifted too close to one another. This merger sparked bursts of new star formation and triggered many hot young stars to explode as supernovae. A new supernova was discovered in this galaxy in 2013, named SN 2013dc. It is not visible in this image, but its location is indicated here. At the centre of NGC 6240 an even more interesting phenomenon is taking place. When the two galaxies came together, their central black holes did so too. There are two supermassive black holes within this jumble, spiralling closer and closer to one another. They are currently only some 3000 light-years apart, incredibly close given that the galaxy itself spans 300 000 light-years. This proximity secures their fate as they are now too close to escape each other and will soon form a single immense black hole. Links  Images of Hubble
    News

    Secrets of galactic butterfly revealed

    0105-4x5color.ai
    Science

    A guide to galaxies

    The picture shows Abell 2218, a rich galaxy cluster composed of thousands of individual galaxies. It sits about 2.1 billion light-years from the Earth (redshift 0.17) in the northern constellation of Draco. When used by astronomers as a powerful gravitational lens to magnify distant galaxies, the cluster allows them to peer far into the Universe. However, it not only magnifies the images of hidden galaxies, but also distorts them into long, thin arcs. Several arcs in the image can be studied in detail thanks to Hubble's sharp vision. Multiple distorted images of the same galaxies can be identified by comparing the shape of the galaxies and their colour. In addition to the giant arcs, many smaller arclets have been identified.
    Science

    A guide to gravitational lensing

    • You're currently on page 1
    • Page 2
    • Page 3
    • Page 4
    • Next

    Site footer

    • Visit us on Facebook
    • Visit us on Twitter
    • Visit us on YouTube
    • Subscribe to our RSS feed
    • About us
    • Contact us
    • Brands
    • Cookies
    • Privacy
    • Terms and conditions
    • Licensing
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Cookies
    Immediate Media
    BBC Sky At Night Magazine is published by Immediate Media Company Limited under licence from BBC Studios, which helps fund new BBC programmes. © Immediate Media Company Ltd 2019.
    Partner logo