Silver Dollar Galaxy: NGC 253 (figure 1)
Located 10 million light-years away in the southern constellation Sculptor,
the Silver Dollar galaxy, or NGC 253, is one of the brightest spiral
galaxies in the night sky. In this edge-on view from NASA's Galaxy
Evolution Explorer, the wisps of blue represent relatively dustless areas
of the galaxy that are actively forming stars. Areas of the galaxy with a
soft golden glow indicate regions where the far-ultraviolet is heavily
obscured by dust particles.
Gravitational Dance: NGC 1512 and NGC 1510 (figure 2)
In this image, the wide
ultraviolet eyes of NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer show spiral galaxy
NGC 1512 sitting slightly northwest of elliptical galaxy NGC 1510. The two
galaxies are currently separated by a mere 68,000 light-years, leading
many astronomers to suspect that a close encounter is currently in
progress.
The overlapping of two tightly wound spiral arm segments makes up the light blue inner
ring of NGC 1512. Meanwhile, the galaxy's outer spiral arm is being
distorted by strong gravitational interactions with NGC 1510.
Galaxy Trio: NGC 5566, NGC 5560, and NGC 5569 (figure 3)
NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer shows a triplet of galaxies in
the Virgo cluster: NGC 5560 (top galaxy), NGC 5566 (middle galaxy), and
NGC 5569 (bottom galaxy).
The inner ring in NGC 5566 is formed by two nearly overlapping bright
arms, which themselves spring from the ends of a central bar. The bar is
not visible in ultraviolet because it consists of older stars or low mass
stars that do not emit energy at ultraviolet wavelengths. The outer disk
of NGC 5566 appears warped, and the disk of NGC 5560 is clearly disturbed.
Unlike its galactic neighbors, the disk of NGC 5569 does not appear to
have been distorted by any passing galaxies.