Posted on 04/19/2015 4:10:07 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Explanation: How could a galaxy become shaped like a ring? The rim of the blue galaxy pictured on the right is an immense ring-like structure 150,000 light years in diameter composed of newly formed, extremely bright, massive stars. That galaxy, AM 0644-741, is known as a ring galaxy and was caused by an immense galaxy collision. When galaxies collide, they pass through each other -- their individual stars rarely come into contact. The ring-like shape is the result of the gravitational disruption caused by an entire small intruder galaxy passing through a large one. When this happens, interstellar gas and dust become condensed, causing a wave of star formation to move out from the impact point like a ripple across the surface of a pond. The intruder galaxy is just outside of the frame taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. This featured image was taken to commemorate the anniversary of Hubble's launch in 1990. Ring galaxy AM 0644-741 lies about 300 million light years away.
(Excerpt) Read more at 129.164.179.22 ...
[Credit and Copyright: Hubble Heritage Team (AURA / STScI), J. Higdon (Cornell) ESA, NASA]
That galaxy is very Neat and Tidy.
Some are Messier.
reminds me of Larry Niven’s Ringworld!
Plowed a hole right thru.
Wow...it’s been 25 years since Hubbles launch... doesn’t even seem possible it’s been that long.
I don’t get the explanation. Why would two galaxies ‘colliding “ cause an outward ripple of matter. Seems like it should cause the galaxies to coalesce since gravity is an attractive force.
More of a passing through each other than a ‘collision’
The other galaxy has already moved on.
Yes I understand that it’s not a ‘collision’ - but how does it cause matter to fly apart by simply passing through?
The didn’t say that. Let me read it again to see if I can see where the confusion is being caused.
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That’s a strange one. I wonder what it looks like now.
This picture is 300,000,000 years old. But it’s still pretty.
Thank you for the post and ping, Mr. Civilizations.
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