Hi Kim, My hunch is that the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics just used generic galaxy models. But I was happily surprised to see that the orientation was a lot like that of NGC 5426-27. Thanks for the compliment! -- Joe ________________________________ From: Kim Hyatt <kimharch@cut.net> To: 'Utah Astronomy' <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Saturday, May 14, 2011 2:04 PM Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Great merging galaxies! Great work Joe. I especially noticed how some of the blue star-forming regions are visible in your pic. Do you know if the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics used any particular galaxy pair as the model for the simulation that you posted in your blog? I couldn't find any relevant information at their website, but maybe I wasn't looking in the right place. For example, I wonder if the beginning orientation that they chose could be the same as the relative positions of M31 and the Milky Way, or if they might have also used the relative masses of the two in their simulation. Very interesting blog, and thanks for sharing. Kim _____ From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Joe Bauman Sent: Friday, May 13, 2011 4:19 PM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Great merging galaxies! Hi All, Here's my latest blog, about galaxy mergers. I've reprocessed my view of NGC5426/27 and hope it looks more natural. Please take a peek. Thanks, Joe http://www.deseretnews.com/blog/47/10011905/Nightly-news-astronomy-Merging-G alaxies.html _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php