Chandra Release - February 9, 2011

Visual Description: Arp 147

An X-ray and optical composite image features a pair of interacting galaxies known as Arp 147.  The dominant colors in this image are soft pink and blue with pops of hot pink and white. The two galaxies appear to be shaped like circles, with one galaxy being face on (right) and the other viewed more from the side (left).  The texture is such that the left galaxy looks like a rose gold ring band, with the right galaxy resembling a blue ring of diamonds, as if the universe is presenting a sparkling engagement ring. This composite image of Arp 147 shows X-rays from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory (hot pink) and optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope (soft pink and blue). Arp 147 contains the remnant of a spiral galaxy (right) that collided with the elliptical galaxy on the left. This collision has produced an expanding wave of star formation that shows up as a blue ring containing an abundance of massive young stars. These stars race through their evolution in a few million years or less and explode as supernovas, leaving behind neutron stars and black holes.