ESA/Hubble & NASA, W. Keel.Ackno
SPACE – Like an angel fallen from space. This unusual image captured by the space telescope Hubble and broadcast on Monday April 18 on the European Space Agency website (ESA), shows two merging galaxies. If you look closely, their collision gives rise to a shape resembling a winged body.
Is this proof of the existence of celestial beings, like angels, in space? No Unfortunately. But the meeting between two galaxies is just as magical. The galactic merger is even one of the most colossal events in the Universe.
Such a collision takes place when two galaxies are attracted by gravitation. When the attraction is at its peak, they unite to form one large galaxy. The couple formed evolves in the VV689 system, also nicknamed Angel Wings, “Angel Wing”.
Galactic cannibalism
Many galaxy collisions are inevitable and are considered an essential aspect of galaxy evolution. As early as the 1980s, scientists had proof that galaxies merged to grow, as recalled by the site specializing in scientific subjects Futura Sciences.At the time, Australian astronomers Malin and Carter observed star shells around some galaxies. Remains interpreted as evidence of galactic cannibalism.
Clearly, large galaxies eat smaller ones to grow. “Large galaxies form when collisions between galaxies and by capturing dwarf galaxies that they engulf (…)”, explained the authors of the scientific journal The Astrophysical Journal published in 2014. A growth process that lasts billions of years.
These mergers are studied scrupulously by scientists, because they allow a better understanding of our own galaxy. By monitoring how galaxies move relative to each other, researchers can also predict if and when they will collide. They already predict that within 4 to 5 billion years, the Milky Way will inevitably crash into our neighboring galaxy, Andromeda.
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