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Press Room 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 Archive All News Public Affairs Office David Aguilar (617) 495-7462 Christine Pulliam (617) 495-7463 pubaffairs@cfa	Press Release Release No.: 2006-28For Release: Wednesday, October 18, 2006 Busted! Astronomers Nab Culprit in Galactic Hit-and-Run Astronomers have new evidence that the Andromeda spiral galaxy was involved in a violent head-on collision with the neighboring dwarf galaxy Messier 32 (M32) more than 200 million years ago. This infrared photograph taken with NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope revealed a never-before-seen dust ring deep within the Andromeda galaxy (highlighted by the inset). When combined with a previously observed outer ring, the presence of both dust rings suggests that M32 plunged through the disk of Andromeda along Andromeda's polar axis approximately 210 million years ago. Credit: NASA/JPL/P. Barmby (CfA) High Resolution Image (jpg) Low Resolution Image (jpg) Same as above, labeled. Bright regions mark warm dust within the Andromeda galaxy. Credit: NASA/JPL/P. Barmby (CfA) High Resolution Image (jpg) Low Resolution Image (jpg) Same as above, without the inset. Credit: NASA/JPL/P. Barmby (CfA) High Resolution Image (jpg) Low Resolution Image (jpg) Back to Press Release
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