The Mice/NGC 4676 (ACS Full Field Image): NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, has captured a spectacular pair of galaxies engaged in a celestial dance of cat and mouse or, in this case, mouse and mouse. Located 300 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices, the colliding galaxies have been nicknamed "The Mice" because of the long tails of stars and gas emanating from each galaxy. Otherwise known as NGC 4676, the pair will eventually merge into a single giant galaxy. The Hubble image shows the most detail and the most stars that have ever been seen in these galaxies. In one galaxy a bright blue patch is resolved into a vigorous cascade of clusters and associations of young, hot blue stars, whose formation has been triggered by the tidal forces of the gravitational interaction. Streams of material can also be seen flowing between the two galaxies.

Name: Mice Galaxies, NGC 4676
Type: Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Interacting
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Coma Berenices
Distance: 300 million light years
Release date: 30 April 2002, 15:00
Credit: NASA, H. Ford (JHU), G. Illingworth (UCSC/LO), M.Clampin (STScI), G. Hartig (STScI), the ACS Science Team, and ESAThe ACS Science Team: H. Ford, G. Illingworth, M. Clampin, G. Hartig, T. Allen, K. Anderson, F. Bartko, N. Benitez, J. Blakeslee, R. Bouwens, T. Broadhurst, R. Brown, C. Burrows, D. Campbell, E. Cheng, N. Cross, P. Feldman, M. Franx, D. Golimowski, C. Gronwall, R. Kimble, J. Krist, M. Lesser, D. Magee, A. Martel, W. J. McCann, G. Meurer, G. Miley, M. Postman, P. Rosati, M. Sirianni, W. Sparks, P. Sullivan, H. Tran, Z. Tsvetanov, R. White, and R. Woodruff.

ACS uncovers dust layers to show inner region of dusty nebula: The photograph, taken by the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) shows a tumultuous collision between four galaxies located 1 billion light-years from Earth. The galactic wreckage is creating a torrent of new stars. The tangled-up galaxies, called IRAS 19297-0406, are crammed together in the centre of the picture. IRAS 19297-0406 is part of a class of galaxies known as ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs). ULIRGs are considered the progenitors of massive elliptical galaxies. ULIRGs glow fiercely in infrared light and appear 100 times brighter than our Milky Way Galaxy. The large amount of dust in these galaxies is generated by a firestorm of star birth triggered by the collisions. IRAS 19297-0406 is producing about 200 new Sun-like stars every year - about 100 times more stars than our Milky Way creates. The hotbed of this star formation is the central region [the yellow objects]. This area is swamped in the dust created by the flurry of star formation. The bright blue material surrounding the central region corresponds to the ultraviolet glow of new stars. The ultraviolet light is not obscured by dust. Astronomers believe that this area is creating fewer new stars and therefore less dust. The colliding system [yellow and blue regions] has a diameter of about 30 000 light-years, or about half the size of the Milky Way. The tail [faint blue material at left] extends for another 20 000 light-years. ACS captured the visible starlight of the colliding system's blue outer region. IRAS 19297-0406 may be similar to the so-called Hickson compact groups - clusters of at least four galaxies in a tight configuration that are isolated from other galaxies. The galaxies are so close together that they lose energy from the relentless pull of gravity. Eventually, they fall into each other and form one massive galaxy. The picture was taken through the V-band on the ACS wide-field camera; and the U-band on the ACS high-resolution camera. The images were taken on 13 and 14 May 2002.

Name: Cone Nebula, NGC 2264
Type: Milky Way : Nebula : Appearance : Emission : H II Region
Category: Nebulae
Constellation: Monoceros
Distance: 3000 light years
Release date: 5 June 2002, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, the NICMOS Group (STScI, ESA) and the NICMOS Science Team (Univ. of Arizona)

NICMOS uncovers dust layers to show inner region of dusty nebula (NICMOS image): The revived Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) aboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has penetrated dust layers in a star-forming cloud to uncover a dense, craggy edifice of dust and gas. This NICMOS image shows the Cone Nebula (NGC 2264), so named because,  in ground-based images, it has a conical shape. NICMOS enables the  Hubble telescope to see near-infrared wavelengths of light, so that it  can penetrate the dust that obscures the nebula's inner regions.  However, the Cone is so dense even the near-infrared 'eyes' of NICMOS  cannot penetrate all the way through it. The human eye cannot see infrared light so colours have been assigned  to correspond to near-infrared wavelengths. The blue light represents  shorter near-infrared wavelengths and the red light corresponds to  longer wavelengths. The NICMOS colour composite image was made by combining photographs  taken through J-band, H-band, and Paschen-alpha filters. The NICMOS  images were taken on 11 May 2002.

Name: Cone Nebula, NGC 2264
Type: Milky Way : Nebula : Appearance : Emission : H II Region
Category: Nebulae
Constellation: Monoceros
Distance: 3000 light years
Release date: 5 June 2002, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, the NICMOS Group (STScI, ESA) and the NICMOS Science Team (Univ. of Arizona)