The Antennae Galaxies in Collision
The Antennae Galaxies in Collision
Credit: NASA,
ESA, and the
Hubble Heritage Team (
STScI/
AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration
Acknowledgment: B. Whitmore (
Space Telescope Science Institute)
et al.
Explanation: Two galaxies are squaring off in
Corvus and
here are the latest pictures. When two
galaxies collide, however, the stars that compose them usually do not. This is because galaxies are mostly empty space and, however bright, stars only take up only a small amount of that space. During the slow, hundred million year
collision, however, one galaxy can rip the other apart gravitationally, and
dust and
gas common to both galaxies does collide. In the
above clash of the
titans, dark
dust pillars mark massive
molecular clouds are being compressed during the
galactic encounter, causing the rapid birth of millions of stars, some of which are gravitationally bound together in
massive star clusters.
The Antennae Galaxies in Collision
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