Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2021 October 4
     [2]The picture shows a Hubble image of colliding galaxies NGC 4676
       known as the Mice for their long stellar tails. Please see the
                 explanation for more detailed information.

                         NGC 4676: When Mice Collide
       Image Credit: [3]NASA, [4]ESA, Hubble; Processing & Copyright:
              [5]William Ostling ([6]The Astronomy Enthusiast)

   Explanation: These two mighty galaxies are pulling each other apart.
   Known as the "[7]Mice" because they have such long tails, each
   [8]spiral galaxy has likely already passed through the other. The
   [9]long tails are created by the relative [10]difference between
   gravitational pulls on the near and far parts of each [11]galaxy.
   Because the distances are so large, the [12]cosmic interaction takes
   place in slow motion -- over hundreds of millions of years. [13]NGC
   4676 lies about 300 million [14]light-years away toward the
   constellation of Bernice's Hair ([15]Coma Berenices) and are [16]likely
   members of the [17]Coma Cluster of Galaxies. The [18]featured picture
   was taken with the [19]Hubble Space Telescope's [20]Advanced Camera for
   Surveys in 2002. These galactic mice will probably [21]collide again
   and again over the next billion years so that, instead of continuing to
   pull each other apart, they [22]coalesce to [23]form a single galaxy.

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                      Tomorrow's picture: polar sunrise
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    Authors & editors: [38]Robert Nemiroff ([39]MTU) & [40]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([41]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [42]Specific rights apply.
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                A service of: [44]ASD at [45]NASA / [46]GSFC
                           & [47]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2110/NGC4676_HubbleOstling_4555.jpg
   3. https://www.nasa.gov/
   4. https://esahubble.org/
   5. https://www.instagram.com/the_astronomy_enthusiast/
   6. https://theastroenthusiast.com/
   7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mouse
   8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/spiral_galaxies.html
   9. http://burro.astr.cwru.edu/NAS/NAS.html
  10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galactic_tide
  11. https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/what-are-galaxies
  12. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjjRfOT87Wc
  13. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1974ApJ...187..219S/abstract
  14. https://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/cosmic_distance.html
  15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coma_Berenices
  16. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1961ApJ...133..726B/abstract
  17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180326.html
  18. https://theastroenthusiast.com/ngc-4676-from-hubble/
  19. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/story/index.html
  20. https://www.nasa.gov/content/hubble-space-telescope-advanced-camera-for-surveys
  21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130514.html
  22. https://www.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/two-cats-better-than-one-5-60a76c5ce2159__700.jpg
  23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120604.html
  24. https://www.facebook.com/AstronomyPictureOfTheDay
  25. https://www.instagram.com/astronomypicturesdaily/
  26. http://twitter.com/apod/
  27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap211003.html
  28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  31. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  33. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  34. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  35. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  36. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=211004
  37. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap211005.html
  38. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  39. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  40. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  41. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  42. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  43. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  44. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  45. https://www.nasa.gov/
  46. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  47. http://www.mtu.edu/