This cosmic encounter is known as Arp 122, and here: NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.
Two spiral galaxies, NGC 6040 and NGC 6039, have merged on the right side of this Hubble image. NGC 6039 is circular when viewed from the front. NGC 6040 appears to be before the first one. In the lower left corner of the frame, elliptical galaxy NGC 6041, the central member of the galaxy cluster in which Arp 122 resides, is visible as light emanating from a point. This color image was created in both the visible and infrared regions of the spectrum using Hubble's Altitude Survey Camera (ACS) and the Dark Energy Camera mounted on NSF's Victor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter. Created from separate exposures taken in the area. -American Observatory of Chile. Four filters were used to sample different wavelengths. Color is obtained by assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credits: NASA / ESA / Hubble / J. Dalcanton / Dark Energy Survey / DOE / FNAL / DECam / CTIO / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / L. Shatz.
Alp 122 It is located in the constellation Hercules, approximately 570 million light years from Earth.
This system consists of two galaxies: a tilted and distorted spiral galaxy; NGC6040 and the spiral galaxy in front of me NGC6039.
“Galaxy collisions and mergers are highly energetic and dramatic events, but they occur on very slow timescales,” Hubble astronomers said in a statement.
“For example, our Milky Way galaxy is on a colliding orbit with its nearest galactic neighbor, the Andromeda galaxy, but it will still be four billion years before these two galaxies actually meet. ”
“The process of collision and fusion will not end soon either; it may take hundreds of millions of years to unfold.”
“These collisions take a very long time because they have very long distances.”
“Galaxies are composed of stars and their solar systems, dust and gas,” the researchers added.
“Over time, the structures of two (or more) colliding galaxies may change completely, eventually forming a single, merged galaxy.”
“That could be the result of the collision seen in this image.”
“Galaxies resulting from mergers are thought to have regular or elliptical structures because the merger process destroys more complex structures (such as those observed in spiral galaxies).”
“It will be interesting to see what Arp 122 will look like once this collision is complete, but that won't happen for a long time.”
Source: www.sci.news
