Credit: NASA, ESA, and R. Sharples (University of Durham)

Though galaxies are the most widely distributed objects in our immensely vast universe, they do collide. NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has imaged numerous pairs of galaxies in collision.

Each colliding pair is a different intriguing case. The above image shows one of the most spectacular galaxy encounters ever observed.

At first glance, the image resembles a view of a smaller galaxy caught in a violent interaction two giant elliptical galaxies. The doomed galaxy may have once been a spiral galaxy, similar to pinwheel-shaped Milky Way galaxy. Now, however, that it is captured in a violent galactic encounter; its dust lanes are being stretched and warped, due to the influence of tremendous gravity.

Unlike its elliptical companions, the spiral is abundant in dust and gas, cosmic raw material for the formation of new stars. Eventually, the ill-fated spiral galaxy will be pulled like taffy, and then swallowed by the pair of elliptical galaxies. This will trigger a firestorm of new stellar creation. If there were astronomers on hypothetical planets in this galaxy group, they will have a close view of an energetic starbirth process, continuing for many millions of years. Eventually, the ellipticals should merge too, forming a single gigantic galaxy much larger than our Milky Way.

The galaxies of the trio are members of a compact cluster of 16 galaxies, most of which are dwarf galaxies. The galaxy cluster is known as the Hickson Compact Group 90, as it was cataloged by astronomer Paul Hickson. It lies about 100 million light-years away, and is visible in the direction of the constellation Piscis Austrinus, the Southern Fish.

Further Reading

HST News release
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2009/10/image/a/

Aymen Mohamed Ibrahem
Senior Astronomy Specialist