1
00:00:07,215 --> 00:00:08,133
This is an image of

2
00:00:08,133 --> 00:00:12,971
something called the Antennae
galaxies discovered by William Herschel.

3
00:00:13,763 --> 00:00:18,101
About 45 million
light years away from our Milky Way.

4
00:00:18,184 --> 00:00:23,106
These are actually two galaxies
that are in the process of merging.

5
00:00:23,106 --> 00:00:26,776
They will end up eventually
as one bigger galaxy,

6
00:00:27,444 --> 00:00:30,488
We have the privilege of catching it
with this brilliant Hubble

7
00:00:30,488 --> 00:00:35,118
Space Telescope image
during the process of merging.

8
00:00:35,118 --> 00:00:38,705
So what you can see
here is a lot of activity.

9
00:00:38,747 --> 00:00:40,749
First of all, you see a lot of light.

10
00:00:40,749 --> 00:00:43,918
This is from starlight blended together

11
00:00:43,918 --> 00:00:47,047
and you can see at the core of one galaxy

12
00:00:47,047 --> 00:00:50,050
and the other down here
with a lot of blended starlight.

13
00:00:50,091 --> 00:00:52,761
But you also see disrupted structure.

14
00:00:52,761 --> 00:00:57,891
You know, a few hundred million years ago
these were two separate spiral galaxies.

15
00:00:57,891 --> 00:01:02,604
Now they are in the process of merging
and that spiral structure

16
00:01:02,604 --> 00:01:08,276
has been disrupted by the gravitational
pulls between the two galaxies.

17
00:01:08,276 --> 00:01:13,406
And not only that, but that disruption has stirred up a lot of the gas

18
00:01:13,406 --> 00:01:17,285
and the dust that were within
each of the independent galaxies.

19
00:01:17,285 --> 00:01:22,248
And that stirring up actually compresses
some of the gas and incites

20
00:01:22,248 --> 00:01:26,252
new star formation
at a very vigorous pace.

21
00:01:26,503 --> 00:01:30,256
So the bright purple light here
that we see all around

22
00:01:30,256 --> 00:01:33,426
this pair of merging galaxies are nebulae

23
00:01:33,426 --> 00:01:37,388
that are really very energetically forming
stars.

24
00:01:38,807 --> 00:01:42,018
Their light is ionizing
the surrounding gas.

25
00:01:42,018 --> 00:01:44,270
It's creating these beautiful colors.

26
00:01:44,521 --> 00:01:47,023
You can also see lots and lots of dust

27
00:01:47,023 --> 00:01:50,068
in these regions as the galaxies merge.

28
00:01:51,194 --> 00:01:56,241
So we call this a star burst
because it's a burst of star formation

29
00:01:56,241 --> 00:02:01,746
that's being incited and excited
by the merging process of these two

30
00:02:01,746 --> 00:02:04,040
originally independent galaxies.

31
00:02:05,625 --> 00:02:11,506
There’s so much material in this starburst process that's being compressed that it enables

32
00:02:11,506 --> 00:02:16,553
not just individual isolated stars to
form, but whole clusters of stars to form.

33
00:02:16,886 --> 00:02:19,722
And that creates
a lot of energetic radiation

34
00:02:19,722 --> 00:02:23,643
that can then light up the surrounding gas
that's left over

35
00:02:23,643 --> 00:02:28,064
and just makes for a brilliant picture
of vibrant star formation.

36
00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:31,860
So catching this in the act with Hubble,

37
00:02:31,860 --> 00:02:35,155
I think is is a wonderful gift
and achievement.

38
00:02:35,155 --> 00:02:37,740
And I love looking at
this picture for that reason.