In universal , everything in the cosmos is moving apart , but there are some exceptions to this . The nearest galax to our own , Andromeda , isbarreling towards us , which mean that in 4 billion years or so , it ’ll merge with the Milky Way . If we need to see examples of galaxy collision , though , we only need appear to the deep glum shadows above us .
The dance of these starring museums are wild and sometimes highly destructive ; other times , they look more like a concert dance than a mosh pit . If a larger galaxy meets a smaller one , it devour it and demolish its third-year partner – something our own Milky Way has accomplishedat least eleven times .
An image latterly released by NASA and the European Space Agency ( ESA ) illustrates one suchgalaxy mergerevent , but arguably a more peaceful one . Pictured here in NGC 3256 is a distorted galactic soup that leave from the clank of two separate I that start colliding around 500 million years ago , around the clip complex life on Earth was just starting to flourish .
As explain by thepress releaseaccompanying this breathtaking shoot by the Hubble Space Telescope , the aftermath of this galactic bloodbath can be located 100 million idle - years aside , in the constellation of Vela . As the galaxies involved were originally of a similar size , they had a adequate influence on each other , which ensue in a somewhat unagitated merger rather than a succeeder - takings - all event .
See those tails ? They ’re packed with young stars , work during the collision of some peeled material perfect for form fresh thermonuclear furnaces , particularly all that atomic number 1 .
In fact , as it turns out , in much the same agency that asteroid rap in movies aredamned lies , the spaces between stars are credibly far , far greater than you think . After all , the nearest wiz system to the Sun is still around4 light - yearsaway .
Their orbits may be severely trouble if they get tight enough , but these intergalactic taper are still probable to remain unintegrated . Indeed , it ’s the gas and dust that tend to mix together and translate into Modern champion and world , which is what can be seen here .
In fact , NGC 3256 is touch on to as a “ starburst galaxy ” , in that it ’s exhibiting a far - above - modal rate of star formation . This has resulted in a stellar fireworks show most lucent in the infrared . Thanks to its nerve - on orientation , it ’s giving astronomers a perfect opportunity to study how starbursts are accept from such mergers .
The hit , rather excitingly , is still taking place from our point of view . In a few hundred million year ’ metre , their core will merge amply , and it ’ll become one undivided , huge elliptical galaxy . deplorably , of course , we wo n’t be around to see it occur .
