A galactic collision at a speed of 3.2 million km/h has been documented in great detail

The dramatic event took place in the Stefan Quintet group, a galactic group that has been studied for nearly 150 years. A collision between two galaxies created a powerful shockwave, described as "like the supersonic boom of a fighter jet," one of the most impressive energetic processes in the universe

A galaxy moving at 3.2 million km/h has created a massive collision, recorded in precise detail for the first time by the advanced WEAVE telescope.

The dramatic event took place in the Stefan Quintet group, a galactic group that has been studied for nearly 150 years. The collision created a powerful shockwave, described as "like the supersonic boom of a fighter jet," one of the most impressive energetic processes in the universe.

Radio observations of the Stefan quintet

The Stefan quintet has long been considered a "galactic junction", where past collisions have left a complex debris field. The region was reawakened by the collision of the galaxy NGC 7318b.

A team of scientists detected the collision using first observations from the WEAVE telescope equipped with an advanced 20 million euro spectrograph located in La Palma, Spain.

High energy plasma in the Stefan quintet

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WEAVE is a fast mapping instrument, enabling the analysis of stellar and gas composition in distant galaxies. It is equipped with a spectroscope that deciphers the chemical composition of the stars.

Professor Gavin Dalton, Principal Investigator of WEAVE commented: "This is an amazing observation that provides extraordinary insight into the evolution of galaxies in the Universe."

for the scientific article

More of the topic in Hayadan:

• The James Webb Telescope sheds light on the evolution of galaxies and black holes in the Stefan quintet
• Dark matter and galactic collisions: Harvard astronomers explain the mysterious curvature of the Milky Way
• The new map of the Milky Way: a galaxy with 2 arms