USA; Three galaxies are seen in a new image taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, and they are on a collision course. The Bootes constellation's galaxies will eventually combine to form a single, larger galaxy. Due to the gravitational effects of their interactions, these galaxies are destined to lose their spiral structure during the process.
Galactic collisions do occur occasionally, but this one is unusual because each of the involved galaxies is currently in the process of producing new stars. The image, which was captured by Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys, can give astronomers new information about how the universe's most massive galaxies were created.
The image shows strands of gas and dust connecting the galaxies, which give their shapes an already distorted appearance. Also releasing a lot of light are the galaxies. The three galaxies that are colliding and collectively known as SDSSCGB 10189 are thought to be a relatively uncommon combination because they are only 50,000 light-years apart.
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Although 50,000 light-years may seem like a far distance, it is actually not that far in cosmic terms. The three galaxies are "extremely close neighbours" due to their separation. The galaxies that are right next to us are much farther away. For example, Andromeda, the Milky Way's nearest neighbour, is more than 2.5 million light years from Earth.
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The Hubble image also shows a few other galaxies. One unrelated spiral galaxy that is close to the merging galactic trio stands out among them. In the background, one can see the muddled shapes of galaxies that are much farther away.
The most recent Hubble image was created as part of research into the Bright Galactic Clusters, which are the largest and most massive galaxies in the universe (BGCs).
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Large, gas-rich galaxies like SDSSCGB 10189 are thought to merge to form BCGs, which could shed light on how these massive, bright galaxies are created.