Astronomy Picture of the Day - Colliding Spiral Galaxies from Webb and Hubble

By Free Republic | Created at 2025-01-06 19:46:32 | Updated at 2025-01-08 02:49:15 1 day ago

Astronomy Picture of the Day - Colliding Spiral Galaxies from Webb and Hubble
NASA ^ | 6 Jan, 2025 | Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

Posted on 01/06/2025 11:41:46 AM PST by MtnClimber

Explanation: Billions of years from now, only one of these two galaxies will remain. Until then, spiral galaxies NGC 2207 and IC 2163 will slowly pull each other apart, creating tides of matter, sheets of shocked gas, lanes of dark dust, bursts of star formation, and streams of cast-away stars. The featured image in scientifically assigned colors is a composite of Hubble exposures in visible light and Webb exposures in infrared light. Astronomers predict that NGC 2207, the larger galaxy on the right, will eventually incorporate IC 2163, the smaller galaxy on the left. In the most recent encounter that about peaked 40 million years ago, the smaller galaxy is swinging around counter-clockwise and is now slightly behind the larger galaxy. The space between stars is so vast that when galaxies collide, the stars in them usually do not collide.

TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: apod; nasa

Hey! FReepers!
Help Fill The Tank!
How About It? Huh?
It Ain't Askin' Too Much
Ya Know....

Click here: to donate by Credit Card

Or here: to donate by PayPal

Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794

Thank you very much and God bless you.

To be added or removed from the Astronomy Picture of the Day ping list please send me a request via "Private Reply" (Mail).

For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.

1 posted on 01/06/2025 11:41:46 AM PST by MtnClimber

To: MtnClimber

2 posted on 01/06/2025 11:42:23 AM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)

To: 21stCenturion; 21twelve; 4everontheRight; A Navy Vet; A_perfect_lady; abb; AFB-XYZ; AFPhys; ...

Pinging the APOD list

🪐 🌟 🌌 🍔

3 posted on 01/06/2025 11:43:19 AM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)

To: MtnClimber

Should be called the Phantom of the Opera galaxy.

4 posted on 01/06/2025 11:44:15 AM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire, or both.)

To: MtnClimber

I wonder if this is how elliptical galaxies are formed.

5 posted on 01/06/2025 11:44:42 AM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)

To: MtnClimber

What if they are not colliding but just passing in front of one another?..............

6 posted on 01/06/2025 11:45:22 AM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Read Entire Article