(ORDO NEWS) — Mankind does not seem to notice these majestic and sometimes terrible phenomena in the universe. But it’s still worth looking at them. They are far away, but they are gigantic.
“Just because you can’t see something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist” – Epictetus
New footage from the far reaches of space arrives on Earth, perhaps not as often, but every brave new species is amazing.
Now scientists have managed to get a reliable and detailed picture of the merger of two galaxies. NGC 1512 (left) is the larger of the two galaxies. It is a barred spiral galaxy. It appears to be at the start of a circle with its smaller companion, a dwarf lenticular galaxy (lower right) called NGC 1510.
What happens in a collision
Although galaxies are usually far apart in space, they interact with each other throughout their lifetime: they grow and change. Including our Milky Way. In fact, our galaxy is currently consuming several smaller dwarf galaxies, adding their stars to the Milky Way’s population.
The interaction of the galaxies NGC 1510 and NGC 1512 is a clear example of what happens during the merger. Their gravitational attraction to each other caused large waves of star formation, especially in the outer spiral arms of a large galaxy.
This created what astronomers call “stellar flares” and blasted long blue strings of hot young stars into space. Eventually, the galaxies will completely merge with each other, forming a giant galaxy, probably an elliptical one.
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