X-ray/Optical Composite of Stephan's Quintet, Close-up
The hurly-burly interactions in the compact group of galaxies known as Stephan's Quintet show the Chandra X-ray Observatory image (blue) superimposed on a Digitized Sky Survey optical image (yellow). Shock-heated gas, visible only with an X-ray telescope, appears as a bright blue cloud oriented vertically in the middle of the image and has a temperature of about 6 million degrees Celsius. The heating is produced by the rapid motion of a spiral galaxy intruder located immediately to the right of the shock wave in the center of the image.
Scale: 2.9 x 2.3 arcmin
(Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/INAF-Brera/G.Trinchieri et al.; Optical: Pal.Obs. DSS)

Chandra X-ray Image of Stephan's Quintet, Close-up
The shock-heated gas in Chandra's X-ray image of Stephan's Quintet has a temperature of about 6 million degrees Celsius. The heating is produced by the rapid motion of a spiral galaxy intruder located immediately to the right of the shock wave in the center of the image.
Scale: 2.9 x 2.3 arcmin
(Credit: NASA/CXC/INAF-Brera/G.Trinchieri et al.)

X-ray/Optical Mosaic of Stephan's Quintet, Unlabeled
The hurly-burly interactions in the compact group of galaxies known as Stephan's Quintet are shown in the upper left where a Chandra X-ray Observatory image (blue) is superimposed on a Digitized Sky Survey optical image (yellow). Shock-heated gas, visible only with an X-ray telescope, appears as a bright blue cloud oriented vertically in the middle of the image and has a temperature of about 6 million degrees Celsius. The heating is produced by the rapid motion of a spiral galaxy intruder located immediately to the right of the shock wave in the center of the image.
Scale: Composite (upper left) = 2.9 x 2.3 arcmin;
Wide field (lower right) = approx. 7 x 7 arcmin
(Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/INAF-Brera/G.Trinchieri et al. Optical: Pal.Obs. DSS)

DSS Optical Image of Stephan's Quintet, Wide Field, Labeled
The four galaxies A, B, D and E in this wide field optical image are at a distance of about 280 million light years from Earth. The large-appearing galaxy F in the lower left of this image has now been identified as a foreground galaxy at a distance of about 35 million light years, leaving the group originally identified as Stephan's Quintet with only a quartet of galaxies. However, if we include galaxy C, which is at the same distance as the other four galaxies, it becomes a quintet again!

A = NGC 7318a, elliptical galaxy
B = NGC 7318b, intruder galaxy
C = NGC 7320c, old intruder galaxy
D = NGC 7319, spiral galaxy
E = NGC 7317, elliptical galaxy
F = NGC 7320, foreground galaxy
Scale: approx. 7 x 7 arcmin
(Credit: Pal.Obs. DSS)

DSS Optical Image of Stephan's Quintet, Wide Field, Unlabeled
The four galaxies in this wide field optical image are at a distance of about 280 million light years from Earth. The large-appearing galaxy in the lower left of this image has now been identified as a foreground galaxy at a distance of about 35 million light years, leaving the group originally identified as Stephan's Quintet with only a quartet of galaxies. However, if we include the galaxy at the top edge of the image, which is at the same distance as the other four galaxies, it becomes a quintet again!
Scale: 8 x 7 arcmin
(Credit: Pal.Obs. DSS)

Chandra X-ray/Optical Image with Scale Bar
Scale bar = 52 arcsec
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/INAF-Brera/G.Trinchieri et al.; Optical: Pal.Obs. DSS