At the center of NGC 5256 are two nuclei that are only 13 light years apart. The gas and even the stars close to the double center fall into the same cosmic mixer, and it is networked with bright star formation regions
This image is a composite of data collected by the Advanced Camera for Surveys and the Wide Angle Camera #3. Photo: NASA/Hubble Space Telescope
The galaxy NGC 5256, also known as Mercarian 266, is about 350 million light-years away from Earth, in the constellation Ursa Major. In the center of that galaxy there are two nuclei that are only 13 thousand light years apart. The gas and even the stars close to the center of the double fall into that cosmic vortex, and it is networked with bright star formation regions.
In the center of that galaxy there are two nuclei that are only 13 thousand light years apart. The gas and even the stars close to the center of the double fall into the same cosmic mixer, and it is networked with bright star formation regions.
Colliding galaxies can be found all over the universe, creating a wide variety of complicated structures. In some cases it is a silent process when one galaxy indifferently takes in another galaxy. The other collisions are violent and chaotic, causing quasars and supernova explosions, which cause bursts of star formation.
While these interactions are destructive on a galactic scale, stars rarely collide with each other in the process because the distances between them are so vast. But this merger got complicated and the strong tidal effect created new structures - feather-like and caused the chaotic appearance of NGC 5256 that will take another millions of years to reach stability.
Each of the galaxies contains an active galactic nucleus where gas and other debris are being pulled into a massive, hungry black hole. A photograph by NASA's Chandra Space Telescope showed the two cores and the hot zone between them and the shock waves created when gas clouds collide at high speeds.
Galactic mergers like 5256 NGC were common in the early universe and are considered part of the evolution of each galaxy. Most galaxies today show signs of past collisions and mergers. Our Milky Way contains the debris of many small galaxies that it swallowed in the past. The neighboring galaxy Andromeda is also about to swallow a dwarf globular galaxy in a process that will last about 2 billion years.
For information on the Space Telescope Scientific Center website
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Meir
In space no one can hear you scream…..
The distance of the galaxies from the solar system is 350 million light years, when the black holes in the center of the galaxies will merge, we will notice the gravitational waves they will produce.
Do the black holes at the center of galaxies also merge?
Can black hole mergers be silent?