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. 2019 November 16 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. The Star Streams of NGC 5907 Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]R Jay Gabany (Blackbird Observatory) - collaboration; D.Martinez-Delgado([5]IAC, [6]MPIA), J.Penarrubia ([7]U.Victoria) I. Trujillo ([8]IAC) S.Majewski ([9]U.Virginia), M.Pohlen ([10]Cardiff) Explanation: Grand tidal streams of stars seem to surround galaxy [11]NGC 5907. The arcing structures form tenuous loops extending more than 150,000 light-years from the narrow, edge-on spiral, also known as the [12]Splinter or Knife Edge Galaxy. Recorded only in very deep exposures, the streams likely represent the ghostly trail of a [13]dwarf galaxy - debris left along the orbit of a smaller satellite galaxy that was [14]gradually torn apart and merged with NGC 5907 over four billion years ago. Ultimately this remarkable discovery image, from a small robotic observatory in New Mexico, supports the cosmological [15]scenario in which large spiral galaxies, [16]including our own Milky Way, were formed by the accretion of smaller ones. NGC 5907 lies about 40 million light-years distant in the northern constellation [17]Draco. Tomorrow's picture: WISE young stars __________________________________________________________________ [18]< | [19]Archive | [20]Submissions | [21]Index | [22]Search | [23]Calendar | [24]RSS | [25]Education | [26]About APOD | [27]Discuss | [28]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [29]Robert Nemiroff ([30]MTU) & [31]Jerry Bonnell ([32]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [33]Specific rights apply. [34]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [35]ASD at [36]NASA / [37]GSFC & [38]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1911/ngc5907_gabany_rcl.jpg 3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 4. http://www.cosmotography.com/index.html 5. http://www.iac.es/ 6. http://www.mpia.de/Public/ 7. http://www.astro.uvic.ca/~jorpega/ 8. http://www.iac.es/ 9. http://www.astro.virginia.edu/ 10. http://www.astro.cardiff.ac.uk/ 11. http://www.cosmotography.com/images/small_ring_ngc5907.html 12. http://www.messier.seds.org/xtra/ngc/n5907.html 13. https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2016/hubble-views-a-stubborn-dwarf-galaxy 14. https://www.cosmotography.com/images/ngc5907_animation.html 15. http://arxiv.org/abs/0805.1137 16. http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0703601 17. http://hawastsoc.org/deepsky/dra/index.html 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap191115.html 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 22. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 27. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=191116 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap191117.html 29. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 30. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 31. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 32. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 33. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 34. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 35. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 36. https://www.nasa.gov/ 37. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 38. http://www.mtu.edu/