Posted on 03/08/2019 3:14:44 PM PST by ETL
Located in the constellation of Hercules, about 230 million light-years away, NGC 6052 is a pair of colliding galaxies. They were first discovered in 1784 by William Herschel and were originally classified as a single irregular galaxy because of their odd shape. However, we now know that NGC 6052 actually consists of two galaxies that are in the process of colliding. This particular image of NGC 6052 was taken using the Wide Field Camera 3 on the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.
A long time ago gravity drew the two galaxies together into the chaotic state we now observe. Stars from within both of the original galaxies now follow new trajectories caused by the new gravitational effects. However, actual collisions between stars themselves are very rare as stars are very small relative to the distances between them (most of a galaxy is empty space). Eventually the galaxies will fully merge to form a single, stable galaxy.
Our own galaxy, the Milky Way, will undergo a similar collision in the future with our nearest galactic neighbor, the Andromeda galaxy. However, this is not expected to happen for around 4 billion years.
Explore further: Image: Hubble views two galaxies merging
Provided by: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Was a pair
See now that’s why you should always use your blinker to avoid situations like this.....
Pretty wild photo.
Well... There Goes THAT Neighborhood!
Like “The Break” in pool...
Asteroids, moons, planets and star systems...
Are experiencing...
“Some” disturbance...
We are expecting a similar “encounter” with the
“Andromeda Galaxy” in our distant future...
Interesting. Thanks for posting. BUMP.
Just gorgeous!!! Thank you.
That’ll buff right out.
So this happened 230 million years ago. Wonder if it’s one galaxy now, or if one glanced off the other and made a getaway. Well, we got the license plate number.
Some of those dents will buff right out.
Stop reading my mind!
He knew you were gonna say that.
“Just gorgeous!!! Thank you.”
Yeh, as billions of aliens are screaming GAAAAAAH!! :-)
It’s like I’m Neil Armstrong and I turn around for a sip of Tang, and reed13k posts first!
(That’s a good analogy, isn’t it?)
Imagine looking out at the night sky and one tenth of the horizon was a colorful, spiral galaxy headed toward Earth.
Your planet has only 1000 years left until collision.
How different would you view life?
That is where the planet Krypton was located/
Reminds me of an episode of MST3K. “When two galaxies love each other very much...”
Was that 4 Billion years, or 4 Million years?
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