It’s hard to believe that Hubble has been in orbit for nearly 20 years, but the old workhorse is still churning out amazing images of our Universe, evidenced by this just-released photograph of three galaxies interacting with one another.

From Space.com:

Hubble’s resolution shows clearly that the stream of material lies in front of the southern component of Arp 194, as shown by the dust that is silhouetted around the star cluster complexes.

Resembling a pair of owl’s eyes, the two nuclei of the colliding galaxies can be seen in the process of merging at the upper left of the image. The bizarre blue bridge of material extending out from the northern component looks as if it connects to a third galaxy but in reality this galaxy is in the background and not connected at all.

The details of the interactions among the multiple galaxies that make up Arp 194 are complex. The system was most likely disrupted by a previous collision or close encounter. The shapes of all the galaxies involved have been distorted by their gravitational interactions with one another.

The existence of Dark Matter has long been argued but new evidence from the Hubble Space Telescope insists Dark Matter is real. Dark Matter is a tricky thing to research because it is invisible, so the only way to get a handle on if it’s real or not is to observe its interaction on normal matter. This is where Hubble comes in. It recently took a photo of the Perseus galaxy cluster and determined that four dwarf galaxies appear completely untouched by the massive amount of gravitational turmoil in that region, gravitational turmoil that is literally ripping neighboring galaxies apart.

Hence, something is protecting these ancient dwarf galaxies that isn’t protecting spiral galaxies. Theory? Dwarf galaxies have a much thicker shield of Dark Matter than spiral galaxies.

From Live Science:

First proposed about 80 years ago, dark matter is thought to be the “glue” that holds galaxies together. Astronomers suggest that dark matter provides vital “scaffolding” for the universe, forming a framework for the formation of galaxies through gravitational attraction.

Previous studies with Hubble and NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory found evidence of dark matter in entire clusters of galaxies such as the Bullet Cluster. The new Hubble observations continue the search for dark matter in individual galaxies.

Because dark matter cannot be seen, astronomers detect its presence through indirect evidence. The most common method is by measuring the velocities of individual stars or groups of stars as they move randomly in the galaxy or as they rotate around the galaxy. But the Perseus Cluster is too far away for telescopes to resolve individual stars and measure their motions.

I’m still getting my head around the fact that the Hubble telescope launched 18 years ago today. It seemed like only yesterday that everyone was freaking-out about Hubble’s blurry mirror and bloated budget, calling it the biggest blunder in NASA history. 18 years later finds a different story, with people up in arms about the fate of Hubble and applying pressure to save the astronomical workhorse from death.
In celebration of Hubble’s 18th, NASA has released a ton of new and amazing photographs that depict galaxies colliding with one another. Check out the complete gallery here.

Brainiacs at UC Irvine have discovered a cluster of galaxies in the early stages of formation, pegging the age at a whopping 11.4 billion years old, which stands as the new record holder.

“When you observe objects this far away, you are actually seeing the universe as it was a very long time ago,” said Jeff Cooke, a McCue Postdoctoral Fellow in physics and astronomy at UCI and lead author of this study. “It is as if a timeline is just sitting out there in front of you. These galaxies represent what the universe looked like well before the Earth existed.”

“Our finding suggests that this is a monster structure being born in a very bright, catastrophic event with a lot of gas and matter collapsing at once,” Bullock said. “We are not just seeing one solitary galaxy. We are seeing a bunch of bright galaxies coming together at the dawn of structure formation in the universe.”