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LINKS FOR INFORMATION & SIMULATIONS ON GALAXY EVOLUTION, MERGERS, & DARK MATTER

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000709.html
Hubble Deep Field north, in direction of Ursa Major, the big dipper.  All but 3 objects in this field are galaxies.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020506.html
The Mice, visible light, May 2002 HST picture of interacting galaxies about 300 million light-years distant in Coma Bernices. Note also numerous distant galaxies.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020411.html
Near IR image of the Antennae galaxies in collision, showing many newly forming star clusters and 2 very clear galactic cores.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap971022.html
HST visible light image of Antennae galaxies.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000818.html
Chandra X-ray image of Antennae galaxies, showing point sources (black holes & neutron stars) and diffuse radiation (hot gas).

http://www.cita.utoronto.ca/~dubinski/antennae/antennae.html
Computer simulation in 2 views of galaxy interaction like Antennae, starting with 2 identical galaxies and varying the amount of dark matter. The long tails (antennae) only appear when the (assumed) dark matter to luminous matter ratio is less than 10:1.

http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~jhibbard/n4038/n4038.html
Comparison of optical HST image and radio image (at 21 cm emission from atomic hydrogen) of antennae galaxies. Check out the mpg video from Barnes - it shows the two centers eventually merging, then the aftermath as the tails fall toward the merged system.

http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr162/lect/galaxies/evolution.html
Shows snapshots of galaxies at various points in the evolution of the universe. Very instructive for galaxy evolution - based on HST images mostly. The Abell cluster shows clear evidence of galactic cannibalism.