Posted on 03/11/2018 12:07:46 PM PDT by Simon Green
Two merging spiral galaxies are caught twisting each other into cosmic knots in a spectacular photo by the Hubble Space Telescope.
The colliding galaxies comprise a system known as Arp 256, which lies about 350 million light-years from Earth, in the constellation Cetus (the Whale).
"The galaxies are ablaze with dazzling regions of star formation: The bright blue fireworks are stellar nurseries, churning out hot infant stars," officials with the European Space Agency (ESA) wrote in a description of the image Thursday (March 8). (The Hubble project is a collaboration between NASA and ESA.)
"These vigorous bursts of new life are triggered by the massive gravitational interactions, which stir up interstellar gas and dust out of which stars are born," the ESA added.
The merger is still in its early stages. The two galaxies will continue coming together for millions of years, eventually forming a single large structure, ESA said.
Such galactic mergers are common throughout the universe. Our own Milky Way likely already has a few under its belt, and it's headed for another dramatic crash, with the neighboring Andromeda galaxy in about 4 billion years. But our distant descendants won't have to worry about that much (if they're still alive): The spaces between stars are so enormous that few if any will actually collide with each other, astronomers have said.
The Arp 256 image is a new version of a photo that was released back in 2008, ESA officials said. It's comprised of data gathered by two Hubble instruments, the Advanced Camera for Surveys and the Wide Field Camera 3.
Hubble launched to Earth orbit in April 1990. The space telescope's primary mirror was famously flawed at the outset, but spacewalking astronauts fixed the problem in December 1993. Astronauts repaired, maintained and upgraded Hubble on four additional servicing missions from 1997 through 2009, and the space telescope continues to study the heavens to this day.
Not merging. Just a one night stand.
Georgeous???
do they have any idea how many lives are probably getting wiped out?
There’s a black hole at the center of each of them.
But is it consensual ?
And to think there is some huge human looking deity out there creating all that. WOW! He’s having one big fun time, a real artist too.
What cooks ones brain is realizing what you’re seeing happened 350 million years ago.
I’d hit that...
Far out, man.
We'll find out soon enough if the one galaxy uses the #MeToo hashtag.....
Great observation, however late in time it may be...
That is some wild thought experiment.
What has become of those worlds since won’t be known for another 350 million years.
Just damn. I may not be around then.
No kidding and what is really is spooky is to think what is happening right now out there that we will never know about
Don’t you believe in evolution?/s
Since it’s 350 million light years... the “in a few million years will become” is in the wrong tense. Should be in the past tense, not future. What ever it is gong to be... already is.
A hostile takeover. It’s dogstar eat dogstar out there. It’s getting Sirius.
Just because we are seeing a merger that happened 350 million years ago doesn’t mean that Mueller can’t investigate to see whether Trump received any foreign emoluments as a result of the merger. If so, impeach!
Haha!
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