The impending destruction of NGC 1427A: What happens when a galaxy falls in with the wrong crowd? The irregular galaxy NGC 1427A is a spectacular example of the resulting stellar rumble. Under the gravitational grasp of a large gang of galaxies, called the Fornax cluster, the small bluish galaxy is plunging headlong into the group at 600 kilometers per second or nearly 400 miles per second.

Name: NGC 1427A
Type: Local Universe : Star : Type : Variable : IrregularLocal Universe : Galaxy : Type : Interacting
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Eridanus
Distance: 50 million light years
Release date: 3 March 2005, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team STScI/AURA )

Debris Ring Around a Star: Unannotated: The top view, taken by NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, is the first visible-light image of a dust ring around the nearby, bright young star Fomalhaut (HD 216956). The image offers the strongest evidence yet that an unruly planet may be tugging on the dusty belt. Part of the ring [at left] is outside the telescope's view. The ring is tilted obliquely to our line of sight. The center of the ring is about 1.4 billion miles (15 astronomical units) away from the star. The dot near the ring's center marks the star's location. Astronomers believe that an unseen planet moving in an elliptical orbit is reshaping the ring.

Name: Fomalhaut, HD 216956, IRAS 22549-2953
Type: Milky Way : Star : Circumstellar Material : Planetary SystemMilky Way : Star : Circumstellar Material : Disk
Category: ExoplanetsMiscellaneousStars
Distance: 25 light years
Release date: 22 June 2005, 19:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, P. Kalas and J. Graham (University of California, Berkeley), and M. Clampin (NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center)

Debris ring around a star: annotated: This view points out important features in the image, such as the ring's inner and outer edges. Astronomers used the Advanced Camera for Surveys' (ACS) coronagraph aboard Hubble to block out the light from the bright star so they could see the faint ring. Despite the coronagraph, some light from the star is still visible in this image, as can be seen in the wagon wheel-like spokes that form an inner ring around Fomalhaut [labeled "scattered light 'noise'"].

Name: Fomalhaut, HD 216956, IRAS 22549-2953
Type: Milky Way : Star : Circumstellar Material : Planetary SystemMilky Way : Star : Circumstellar Material : Disk
Category: ExoplanetsMiscellaneousStars
Distance: 25 light years
Release date: 22 June 2005, 19:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, P. Kalas and J. Graham (University of California, Berkeley), and M. Clampin (NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center)

Hubble spies cosmic dust bunnies: Like dust bunnies that lurk in corners and under beds, surprisingly complex loops and blobs of cosmic dust lie hidden in the giant elliptical galaxy NGC 1316. This image made from data obtained with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope reveals the dust lanes and star clusters of this giant galaxy that give evidence that it was formed from a past merger of two gas-rich galaxies.

Name: Fornax A, NGC 1316
Type: Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Elliptical
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Fornax
Distance: 60 million light years
Release date: 31 March 2005, 16:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)