Posted: 5/14/2013 3:19:45 AM EDT
Hubble Tells a Tale of Galactic CollisionsMay 12, 2013 — When we look into the distant cosmos, the great majority of the objects we see are galaxies: immense gatherings of stars, planets, gas, dust, and dark matter, showing up in all kind of shapes. A new Hubble picture registers several, but the galaxy catalogued as 2MASX J05210136-2521450 stands out at a glance due to its interesting shape. This object is an ultraluminous infrared galaxy which emits a tremendous amount of light at infrared wavelengths. Scientists connect this to intense star formation activity, triggered by a collision between two interacting galaxies.  Galaxy 2MASX J05210136-2521450. (Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA. Acknowledgement: Luca Limatola) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130512145356.htm |
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I'll bet that when two galaxies collide, it makes quite a bang! Maybe it's good, but it's also kind of sad, that the really interesting stellar/galactic/cosmic events mostly take place at such a slow pace that we can only make educated guesses at what they'd really look like as they develop. One notable exception being supernova explosions, of course. When they happen, things get interesting VERY quickly. Sadly, the Hubble is a casualty of this administration. An upgrade package was built for it which will never be installed in it. |
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Quoted: I'll bet that when two galaxies collide, it makes quite a bang! Maybe it's good, but it's also kind of sad, that the really interesting stellar/galactic/cosmic events mostly take place at such a slow pace that we can only make educated guesses at what they'd really look like as they develop. One notable exception being supernova explosions, of course. When they happen, things get interesting VERY quickly. Sadly, the Hubble is a casualty of this administration. An upgrade package was built for it which will never be installed in it. Fuck 0bama |
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The typical distance between two stars in a galaxy is on the scale of two grains of sand being 60 miles apart.
There will be gravitational effects when the galaxies collide that will change the structure of the galaxy but the chances of two stars colliding are small. |
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Quoted: The typical distance between two stars in a galaxy is on the scale of two grains of sand being 60 miles apart. There will be gravitational effects when the galaxies collide that will change the structure of the galaxy but the chances of two stars colliding are small. It's common misconception. Anytime you talk about galaxies colliding, people automatically assume there are Stellar collisions all over the place. But as you pointed out, there is just way too much distance between stars. It is very unlikely that any collisions like that will take place. |