Last week, the Hubble Space Telescope stunned the scientific world and astronomy enthusiasts with a spectacular image of a group of galaxies that appeared to be very close to each other, but in fact were not. Continuing this streak of astonishing discoveries, this week's image shows two galaxies, NGC 6040 and LEDA 59642, lying practically on top of each other.
These two galaxies are so close that they interact and are collectively known as Arp 122. NGC 6040, the galaxy at the top, is stretched into a long, thin shape due to the enormous gravitational pull of LEDA 59642, the round galaxy and more central.
When galaxies approach each other, the gravitational forces from both massive objects can interact and distort or warp one or both galaxies into unusual shapes, as happened here. The collision between two galaxies is an epic cosmic event and can lead to the destruction of one of them.
The Hubble Telescope Captured in Images 2 Galaxies in the Process of Combining
In other cases, the two galaxies collide and may merge into one. After hundreds of millions of years, they can become an even larger galaxy, as Arp 122 can. “Galaxies are composed of stars and their solar systems, dust, gas and invisible dark matter. Therefore, in galactic collisions, these constituents can experience enormous changes in the gravitational forces acting on them," Hubble scientists explain.
"Over time, this completely changes the structure of the two (or more) colliding galaxies and sometimes leads to the formation of a single merged galaxy. This may occur following the collision depicted in this image."
Our own galaxy, the Milky Way, is scheduled to collide with our galactic neighbor, the Andromeda galaxy, in about four billion years. This collision could create a giant elliptical galaxy as a result of the merger between the two.
However, another theory claims that before this event, the Milky Way could collide with a smaller satellite galaxy called the Large Magellanic Cloud in about two billion years. This theory states that the forces of the two galaxies collide and could spur the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy to go into overdrive, causing it to grow in size and emit powerful jets of radiation.
This is an example amazing of the dynamics of our universe, where events of such cosmic magnitude unfold over time periods incomprehensible to the human mind. The study of these phenomena not only expands our understanding of the cosmos, but also gives us insight into our place in this vast and mysterious universe. With each image captured by Hubble and each discovery made, we get closer to deciphering the mysteries of outer space.
