#colliding galaxies

[spacewonder19]

Bullet Cluster in Carina © JWST+Chandra

[scottguy]

A cosmic heart shape caused by colliding galaxies.

[of-stars-and-dust]

Astronomy Picture of the Day

2005 September 12

The Colliding Galaxies of NGC 520

Credit & Copyright: Gemini Obs., AURA, NSF

Explanation: Is this one galaxy or two? The jumble of stars, gas, and dust that is NGC 520 is now thought to incorporate the remains of two separate galaxies. A combination of observations and simulations indicate the NGC 520 is actually the collision of two disk galaxies. Interesting features of NGC 520 include an unfamiliar looking tail of stars at the image bottom and a perhaps more familiar looking band of dust running diagonally across the image center. A similar looking collision might be expected were our disk Milky Way Galaxy to collide with our large galactic neighbor Andromeda (M31). The collision that defines NGC 520 started about 300 million years ago and continues today. Although the speeds of stars are fast, the distances are so vast that the interacting pair will surely not change its shape noticeably during our lifetimes. NGC 520, at visual magnitude 12, has been noted to be one of the brightest interacting galaxies on the sky, after interacting pairs of galaxies known as the Antennae. NGC 520 was imaged above in spectacular fashion by the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii, USA. Also known as Arp 157, NGC 520 lies about 100 million light years distant, spans about 100 thousand light years, and can be seen with a small telescope toward the constellation of the Fish (Pisces).

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA)

NASA Official: Jay Norris.

A service of: EUD at NASA / GSFC

& Michigan Tech. U.

[chibinotan]

Active Collision

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

THE MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE CRUSHES ALL -- WHEN TWO GALAXIES COLLIDE.

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on a Hubble image of NGC 7714, a spiral galaxy 100 million light-years from Earth.⁣ 🔭+📸: ESA (European Space Agency) & NASA⁣.

MINI-OVERVIEW: "NGC 7714 is a spiral galaxy 100 million light-years from Earth — a relatively close neighbour in cosmic terms.

The galaxy has witnessed some violent and dramatic events in its recent past. Tell-tale signs of this brutality can be seen in NGC 7714's strangely shaped arms, and in the smoky golden haze that stretches out from the galactic centre — caused by an ongoing merger with its smaller galactic companion NGC 7715..."

-- ESA HUBBLE, "Hubble image of NGC 7714," first published in 2015

Acknowledgement: A. Gal-Yam (Weizmann Institute of Science)

Sources: https://esahubble.org/images/heic1503a, Picuki, & X (formerly Twitter).

[timbercow]

Colliding galaxies through the rings of another galaxy.

[mystarypi-astronomy]

This is the Whirlpool Galaxy! 🌊🌊🌊

This galaxy’s distinct spiral arms may have been created due to its collision with the smaller galaxy on the top. The gravitational interaction results in a tug of war within the bigger galaxy, condensing gas and turning them into newborn stars! ✨✨✨

Taken by me (Michelle Park) using the Slooh Canary Two telescope on March 31st, 2021 at 22:13 UTC.

[thetimeandspaceblog]

Arp 194: Merging Galaxy Group

Why are stars forming in the bridge between these colliding galaxies? Usually when galaxies crash, star formation is confined to galaxy disks or tidal tails. In Arp 194, though, there are bright knots of young stars right in a connecting bridge. Analyses of images and data including the featured image of Arp 194 from Hubble, as well as computer simulations of the interaction, indicate that the bottom galaxy passed right through the top galaxy within the past 100 million years. The result has left a stream of gas that is now falling toward the bottom galaxy. Astronomers hypothesize that stars form in this bridge because of the recent fading of turbulence after the rapid collision. In about a billion years, the galaxies -- including a smaller galaxy superposed on the upper galaxy (see it?) -- will all merge into one larger galaxy.

Image Copyright & Credit:  NASA, ESA, Hubble

Processing & License: Judy Schmidt

Hubble Space Telescope

Time And Space