By Ker Than,
Posted: 2007-08-07 05:38:23
Filed Under: Science News
Space.com
(Aug. 7) - A major cosmic pileup involving four large galaxies could give rise to one of the largest galaxies the universe has ever known, scientists say.
Each of the four galaxies is at least the size of the Milky Way, and each is home to billions of stars.
The galaxies will eventually merge into a single, colossal galaxy up to 10 times as massive as our own Milky Way.
'When this merger is complete, this will be one of the biggest galaxies in the universe,' said study team member Kenneth Rines of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
Space.com
Feed
Photo Gallery: Mega-Merger
K. Rines, JPL-Caltech / NASA
One of the biggest galactic collisions ever observed takes place at the center of this image. The four blobs in the middle are galaxies that have begun to merge into a single gargantuan galaxy.
T. Pyle, JPL-Caltech / NASA
An artist imagines what the night sky might look like from the surface of a planet in the vicinity of the cosmic pileup.
COBE/NASA
Each of the four galaxies in the collision is at least the size of the Milky Way, depicted here in a satellite scan, and each is home to billions of stars.
JPL-Caltech / NASA
Galaxy collisions are a common occurrence in the universe. Our own Milky Way is fated to collide and merge with its neighbor, Andromeda, pictured here. Source: JPL-Caltech, Space.com, NASA
0 Oinks:
Post a Comment