wallpaper of the week 14-11-11: Antennae Galaxies

The Antennae Galaxies are a pair of distorted colliding galaxies about 70 million light years away in the constellation of the Crow. This picture combines observations made by the Hubble telescope in the visible spectrum (blue) with preliminary observations collected at submillimetre wavelengths (red and yellow) by only 12 of what will eventually be 66 of ALMA’s antennaes. Although the resolution of ALMA can’t yet compare to that offered by Hubble, it can do something Hubble can’t – detect the dense clouds of gas from which stars are formed.

by joseph