*When GALAXIES COLLIDE* pics from Hubble

[underpants]

Hubble image of Arp 148 is the staggering aftermath of an encounter between two galaxies, resulting in a ring-shaped galaxy and a long-tailed companion. The collision between the two parent galaxies produced a shockwave effect that first drew matter into the center and then caused it to propagate outwards in a ring. The elongated companion perpendicular to the ring suggests that Arp 148 is a unique snapshot of an ongoing collision. Infrared observations reveal a strong obscuration region that appears as a dark dust lane across the nucleus in optical light. Arp 148 is nicknamed 'Mayall's object' and is located in the constellation of Ursa Major, the Great Bear, approximately 500 million light-years away. This interacting pair of galaxies is included in Arp's catalog of peculiar galaxies as number 148. This image is part of a large collection of 59 images of merging galaxies taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and released on the occasion of its 18th anniversary on April 24, 2008. (NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team - STScI/AURA-ESA/Hubble Collaboration, A. Evans - University of Virginia, Charlottesville/NRAO/Stony Brook University, K. Noll - STScI, and J. Westphal - Caltech/Handout/Reuters)




In celebration of the Hubble Space Telescope's 18th launch anniversary on April 24, 2008, this image of colliding galaxies illustrates how galaxy collisions produce a remarkable variety of intricate structures in never-before-seen detail. All images have a common theme: galaxy collisions across space and time. Hubble reveals wondrous new details in this photo journal of 'galaxies gone wild.' (NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage - AURA/STScI-ESA/Hubble Collaboration, and A. Evans - University of Virginia, Charlottesville/NRAO/Stony Brook University/Handout/Reuters)

20 pictures here
http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Caltech-NASA-Hubble-Space-Telescope-Hubble-Heritage-Team/photo//080424/photos_sc/2008_04_24t100107_450x450_us_space_hubble/

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. Those galaxies are humping!!!!

We need to destroy the Hubble before kids see this!

[Uncle Joe]

2. That's when poop really hits the fan in a big way. n/t

[tridim]

4. Actually it's not as destructive as it looks

On such a large scale stars rarely collide even when two galaxies merge. Hard to believe, but true.

[Uncle Joe]

7. Well it looks pretty from this distance, however

I would imagine such a collision would have devastating effects on gravitational pull if nothing else.

[A HERETIC I AM]

8. Well, seeing as how that happened 500 million years ago....

perhaps it's much worse now, eh?

[Winterblues]

16. I am pretty damn sure it is Clinton's fault

:silly:

[ColbertWatcher]

28. The Clenis! n/t

[navarth]

3. that is fucking awesome

we need to spend more money on the earth and space and less on war.

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

5. The beauty and complexity of the universe never cease to amaze and humble me. n/t

[shireen]

19. could not agree more!

It's really beautiful out there ....

[Terran]

6. I'm trying to picture...

what actually happens, potentially, to one's own planet when one's galaxy collides with another galaxy. I mean, there's a lot of empty space between stars, but I guess this must do really awful things to orbital mechanics when other suns are passing randomly near yours.

[Fumesucker]

17. To the great majority of planetary systems...

Probably not much..

Gravity works on the inverse square law so a star has to be pretty damn close to another star, astronomically speaking, before it's going to have much effect on the orbits of planets.

Galaxies are almost entirely empty space.. If you were to scatter all the matter within a galaxy uniformly throughout the volume the galaxy would still be a pretty damn hard vacuum.

[Beer Snob-50]

9. SEE THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE LET GAYS MARRY!!!

:P

[Parche]

10. Holy Crap Beam Us Up

Our Dilithium crystals are in danger, with the anti matter pods ready to explode




:woohoo: :hi:

[rjones2818]

11. If I understand correctly...

The second photo looks something like what's happening with the Milky Way Galexy, although probably on a bigger scale. A few months ago, there was a hubub about the sun not being part of the Milky Way, but of a satelite galexy which is at an angle to the Milky Way and is being consumed by the Milky Way (there were also reports that we might not be part of the satelite galexy). It's an interesting situation.

[hvn_nbr_2]

12. Interesting.

I haven't heard that. Do you have a link or source to point me to? I can't think of a good google search that would find that before finding ten brazillion other general astronomy pages.

[rjones2818]

14. Here's a link....

http://www.viewzone.com/milkyway.html

There's probably more out there 'disproving' this.

[hvn_nbr_2]

23. Thanks.

That's an "interesting" site. I haven't had time enough to look around it to know exactly what I mean by "interesting."

[iamthebandfanman]

13. thanks for posting

very interesting

[Dukkha]

15. huh huh those galaxies are totally doin' each other!

:evilgrin:

[Xithras]

18. That's us in 3 billion years.

There's lots of discussions about how our sun has 6 billion years of fuel left, but all bets are off in 3 billion when the Milky Way slams into the Andromeda galaxy. If Sol is 90 degrees out from Andromeda's core when it hits, the sun just might survive. If we're anywhere near the plane along which Andromeda's core bisects our own galaxy, our sun and planets will be torn to bits.

[Bucky]

20. Thousands, perhaps millions, of civilizations being wiped out... EAT IT, YOU LOSERS!!

[The Straight Story]

21. It was caused by too many SUV's

Adding to the gravity and pulling them all together :rofl:

[Solly Mack]

22. They're dancing

[David Zephyr]

24. Thanks for the great photos!

As a science nut, I was taken with these amazing photos. WOW!

[jesus_of_suburbia]

25. thank you for posting! I LOVE this kind of "stuff"

[slowry]

26. Amazing. Only 400 years ago (~5 present-day lifetimes) that someone made the first telescope...

That's some scary progress.

[Fumesucker]

27. My father was born the year the Wright Bros first flew..

And lived to see men walk on the moon..

That is change.

[ColbertWatcher]

29. Can you imagine what this will look like...

...in another 6,000 years!?

[Kitty Herder]

30. Thanks for posting that! I love pics from Hubble! Here's my favorite:

(edited: I accidentally posted the wrong one.)