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Credit & Copyright: ESO
Explanation:
Is this what will become of our Milky Way Galaxy?
Perhaps if we
collide with the Andromeda Galaxy
in a few billion years, it might.
Pictured above is NGC 7252, a jumble of stars created by a
huge collision between two large galaxies.
The collision will take hundreds of millions of years and so is
effectively caught frozen in time in the
above image.
The resulting pandemonium has been dubbed the
Atoms-for-Peace
galaxy because of its similarity to a
cartoon of a large atom.
The above image
was taken recently by the
MPG/ESO 2.2 meter
telescope in
Chile.
NGC 7252 spans about
600,000 light years and lies about 220 million
light years
away toward the
constellation of the
Water Bearer (Aquarius).
Since the sideways velocity of the
Andromeda Galaxy (M31) is presently unknown, no one really
knows for sure if the Milky Way will ever
collide with M31.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: colliding galaxies - Milky Way - M 31
Publications with words: colliding galaxies - Milky Way - M 31
See also:
- APOD: 2023 December 12 Á Aurora and Milky Way over Norway
- Milky Way Rising
- APOD: 2023 November 13 Á Andromeda over the Alps
- The Once and Future Stars of Andromeda
- APOD: 2023 September 25 Á Arp 142: The Hummingbird Galaxy
- APOD: 2023 August 23 Á The Meteor and the Galaxy
- APOD: 2023 July 18 Á Milky Way above La Palma Observatory