Aug 5, 2024
The Umbrella Galaxy NGC 4651
What is going on here ? a galaxy that seems to have a line of stars and a arc of stars above it.
This is what happens when a spiral galaxy begins the process of absorbing a satellite galaxy that strayed too close. Gravity of the larger massed object begins to strip away stars, while the outer part has began to curve inwards, ultimately to join the other stars in the stream.
Our Milky Way has thought to have undergone similar occurrences in the past with other dwarf galaxies, now part of our milky way.