See Two Galaxies Colliding In Stunning New Photo
The James Webb Space Telescope introduced the world to some of the most fascinating space pictures ever captured, but now another telescope has captured galaxies colliding.
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The world has been enthralled with images of the Webb Space Telescope. Newly minted images of a universe that we will likely never get to have been part of most of the top science news lately. However, the Webb Space Telescope is not the only high-powered space telescope in the world. The National Science Foundations’ NOIRLab has just released a new image taken at the NOIRLab’s International Gemini Observatory that shows two galaxies colliding with one another. These galaxies are around 60 million light-years away and reside in the Virgo constellation, but the image showcases a beautiful sight. You can see the image below:
The two galaxies colliding are NGC 4568 and NGC 4567. Even though the above image shows what appears to be these galaxies melting into one, the centers of these galaxies are said to be around 20,000 light years away from one another. That would be the same distance as Earth to the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Still, an image like this is hypnotizing to look at. The scientists at the NOIRLab have also given a description of what is happening in the image, stating that the galaxies will slowly pass by one another, eventually mixing so well that a singly spherical galaxy will emerge from the chaos. That is quite fascinating. Also, the Milky Way galaxy and Andromeda galaxy are said to eventually do the same thing in about 5 billion years.
There is another galaxy in the Virgo Cluster that is called Messier 89. Messier 89 was also a result of two galaxies colliding, then becoming a bigger elliptical galaxy. Though this process clearly takes a long time, it’s fascinating to know that stars become blended in such a way they become part of the same galaxy. We wonder if that is what has happened to the Milky Way galaxy without scientists and astronomers knowing. For all we know, our galaxy could have been a small number of planets and stars and was then joined by another cluster, resulting in the galaxy we now know.
Science has certainly expanded in a way that allows the public to see such awestriking images taken from the deep reaches of space. Just 10 years ago, we might not have had powerful enough telescopes to see the image of galaxies colliding, but now we can. With the fact that we can now see deep space, and the emergence of UFO videos, we might not be alone in the universe any longer. Everyone get out your tin foil hats because space is becoming far more interesting now.
Technology has become rampantly more advanced, and it appears that it will continue in this manner. We know more about space than we do the ocean, which is equally fascinating and scary. Hopefully, the emergence of galaxies colliding is going to give us a much deeper understanding of space travel. Although colonizing another planet has been the plot of many science fiction films, we could be seeing that become a reality much faster.
