Hubble Telescope Captures Megacollision of Galaxies That May Take 500 Million Years to Form

Written in trends He 1/14/2024 · 00:00 am

He Hubble Space Telescope managed to capture the mega-collision of two galaxies, an incredible event that takes approx. 500 million years to develop.

Two sets of stars and high space elements are in the middle of a collision At a very safe distance of about 570 million light years from Earth.

About Arb 122A strange cosmic object that actually consists of two galaxies: NGC 6040Oblique and curved spiral galaxy, and LEDA 59642, round and forward spiral.

Looming elliptical constellation in lower left corner NGC 6041It is the central member of the galaxy cluster in which it resides Arb 122But this, otherwise, would not participate in this terrible fusion.

What are interstellar collisions?

Interstellar collisions and mergers are monumentally dynamic and dramatic events. They occur when two galaxies collide and there is not enough momentum to continue traveling after the collision. So, they merge little by little until they form a galaxy.

However, they take place on a much slower time scale, e.g. The Milky Way is on a collision course with its closest galactic neighborAndromeda galaxy (M31), but these two galaxies are about four billion years apart before they actually meet.

The process of collision and merger is not quick: it can take hundreds of millions of years to develop. AndThese collisions take a long time because of the truly enormous distances involved.NASA explains in a statement.

What are galaxies?

Galaxies are made up of stars and their solar systems, dust, gas, and invisible dark matter. Therefore, in interstellar collisions, these elements can experience enormous changes in the gravitational forces acting on them.

Over time, this completely changes the structure of two (or more) colliding galaxies and sometimes eventually results in a single galaxy. This may be a result of the conflict shown by the scientific observer.

It is believed that The galaxies that result from the merger have a regular or elliptical structureAs the merger process transforms more complex structures (such as those seen in spiral galaxies).