NASA’s Astronomical Picture of the Day is a stunning snapshot of two colliding galaxies nearly 400 million light-years from Earth.
NASA astrophotography January 23, 2023: Galaxies are large collections of stars, gas, dust, and dark matter held together by gravity. They vary in size, from small dwarf galaxies with only a few billion stars to giant elliptical galaxies with trillions of stars. Although most galaxies are elliptical, a few are unusually shaped like toothpicks or rings. According to NASA, most galaxies exist in groups or clusters with dozens or hundreds of members, and these clusters are in constant motion, being pulled and twisted by the gravitational pull of their neighboring galaxy.
NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day is a photograph of a beautiful pair of colliding spiral galaxies located in the constellation Virgo, known as Arp 274. Arp 274 is located nearly 400 million light-years away and spanning nearly 200,000 light years. Galaxies have been slowly pulling towards each other by gravity over millions of years. The collision caused the galaxies to warp and distort, forming beautiful bands of gas, dust, and tidal stars. Image taken with Hubble Spatial telescope by the cooperation of NASA and ESA. Image processed by Mehmet Hakan Ozsaraç.
NASA’s explanation
Two galaxies are perpendicular to Virgo and here are the latest images. When two galaxies collide, the stars that make them up do not usually collide. This is because galaxies are largely empty space, and stars, no matter how bright, make up only a fraction of that space. But during the collision, one galaxy could tear apart the other due to gravity, and the dust and gas common to both galaxies would collide. If two galaxies merge, black hole likely to reside in each galactic center that could eventually merge.
Because the distance is so great, the whole thing happens in slow motion — over hundreds of millions of years. Besides the two large spiral galaxies, a third smaller galaxy visible at the far left of the striking image is Arp 274, also known as NGC 5679. Arp 274 spans some 200,000 light-years. and is located about 400 million light-years from the constellation Virgo.
