Today, the observatory is more concerned with issues like star formation and the origins of quasars but it still does world-respected science.
The pattern in this light acts as a kind of proxy for the history of star formation, and therefore a history of structure in the cosmos.
During the dance, partners move through a series of passes and turns in a star formation, pivoting around each other before meeting in the centre for a final bow.
But one of--a major constituent of comets, we believe, are stardust, interstellar grains, particles that formed 'round other stars and were the original seed of the star formation of the solar system.
The researchers say they need to understand exactly how the ice gets on to the grains and evaporates from them again so that they can simulate the process of star formation with computers.
The violent encounter would have stripped away most of the dwarf galaxy's stars, but it also could have compressed the gas around its central black hole, triggering a new wave of star formation.
Astronomers think the cosmic bullets were ejected from deep within the nebula, likely propelled by strong winds expelling gas at supersonic speeds from a region of massive star formation outside, and below, this image's field-of-view.
That suggests a wave of star formation that travelled down the arms, set off by the collision with IC 4970, with the newest stellar neighbourhoods pushing the galaxy into the top spot in terms of size.
The different instruments were needed to track down the target galaxies, measure star formation and identify mergers, and, crucially, with Chandra, see the X-ray emissions that come from heated material as it is sucked into a black hole.
BBC: NEWS | Science/Nature | Deepest X-rays tell merger story
Even though they account for only about 1% of the mass of a typical interstellar cloud, interstellar dust grains play a crucial role in the creation of this rich variety of molecules and in the process of star formation.
"We compared what you see in these galaxies with what you see in the field galaxy population, other galaxies at the same epoch and distance, and there is a stark difference - far more star formation and black hole growth, " the Cambridge University scientist and Royal Society research fellow explained to the BBC News website.
BBC: NEWS | Science/Nature | Deepest X-rays tell merger story
He says he will represent the Five-Star Movement in the government formation negotiations that President Giorgio Napolitano will manage as soon as the new parliamentarians have taken their seats.
Some astronomers argue that if a star gets too massive, it will disrupt the planetary formation process.
FORBES: Astronomers Locate Massive 'Super-Jupiter' Around Giant Star
We will be able to look at things like new solar systems in formation and particularly the structure of so-called 'protoplanetary discs, ' where we believe a star is growing in the middle and planets are forming around the outside.
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