The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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This picture shows the colliding galaxies known as Antennae (NGC4038/4039) located 60 million light years away in the constellation Corvus. Data from ESA's Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) have provided the first direct evidence that shock waves genarated by the collision excite the gas and create the right conditions for star formation. The excited gas is observed in the overlapping region (enclosed within the white dashed lines). New stars will be born there and in the course of the next million year they will make the Antennae galaxies twice as bright in the infrared.