Spiral Galaxies in Collision
Credit: Debra Meloy Elmegreen (Vassar College) et al.,
& the Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI/NASA)
Posted on 04/20/2008 5:24:36 AM PDT by sig226
Explanation: Billions of years from now, only one of these two galaxies will remain. Until then, spiral galaxies NGC 2207 and IC 2163 will slowly pull each other apart, creating tides of matter, sheets of shocked gas, lanes of dark dust, bursts of star formation, and streams of cast-away stars. Astronomers predict that NGC 2207, the larger galaxy on the left, will eventually incorporate IC 2163, the smaller galaxy on the right. In the most recent encounter that peaked 40 million years ago, the smaller galaxy is swinging around counter-clockwise, and is now slightly behind the larger galaxy. The space between stars is so vast that when galaxies collide, the stars in them usually do not collide.
Halloween!
Freaky how they’re spinning in different directions, although why not.
WOW! Thank you,sig.
Or the one on the left appears to be a long spiral tunnel with a light at the end of it......
Bushes fault. The failed policies of the Administration have caused this looming disaster.
I like this one too, the Association of Lunar & Planetary Observers Picture Of The Day courtesy of Dave Tyler, via alpo-astronomy.org
There's a spot at the upper right that is almost as warm as where Jimmy Carter's soul is going to end up.
Wow! That’s amazing!!
A question many years ago when Goedel and Einstein were at Princeton was whether there was a net rotation to the universe. Goedel spent no one knows how many hours with astronomical photographs noting the rotation of galaxies, galaxy by galaxy. That was when he was not busy destroying the basis of Logical Positivism. He found there is no net rotation of the universe. Galaxies apparently rotate in all directions with a net rotation of zero.
Sublime! Thank you, sig.
nice!
Post photos every day from that site, if you want.
btt
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