| Description: | This image shows the warped gas disk (blue) of the spiral galaxy NGC 5055, as observed with the WSRT. In the inner regions, the gas coincides with the disk made out of stars (the white-yellowish coloured thing in the middle), but the outer regions clearly have a different orientation. Carefull analysis of the motions of the gas suggests that the gravitational field in the outer regions is dominated by an "invisible" mass component (so-called "Dark Matter"). This Dark Matter could also be responsible for the warp in the gas disk. For the full story see Battaglia, Fraternali, Oosterloo & Sancisi 2006, Astronomy & Astrophysics, 447, 49 (or http://xxx.sissa.it/abs/astro-ph/0509382) |
