August 31, 1997
Long before your first heartbeat, stars were busy forging the elements you would one day call your own.
Arp 230: Two Spirals in One?
Birthday · August 31, 1997
A little universe, just for you
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Ready to give.
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APOD published August 31, 1997. Full image credits are on the original APOD entry below. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Is this one galaxy or two? Analysis of Arp 230 has shown evidence that this seemingly single spiral galaxy is actually the result of the recent collision of two spiral galaxies. The slow motion collision took place over about 100 million years and induced a burst of star formation that has begun to subside. The collision apparently had many similarities to the colliding galaxy sequence in the IMAX movie "Cosmic Voyage."