BellaOnline Forums Education Astronomy Cosmic Collisions

We no longer see the heavens as perfect and the stars as eternal and unchanging. Even the Universe had a beginning, and everything that we observe changes and evolves. Many of these changes involve cosmic collisions.

Cosmic Collisions

NGC 1316: After Galaxies Collide

Huge elliptical galaxy NGC 1316 is about 75 million light-years away in the southern constellation Fornax (the Furnace). Astronomers think it collided with its smaller neighbor NGC 1317, seen just above, causing far great loops and shells of stars. In the image the central regions of NGC 1316 and NGC 1317 appear separated by over 100,000 light-years. Complex dust lanes also indicate that NGC 1316 is itself the result of a merger of galaxies in the distant past.

Image Credit & Copyright: Steve Mazlin, Warren Keller, & Steve Menaker (SSRO/UNC/PROMPT/CTIO)

Wow!