Scientists Find Galaxies Colliding at Millions of Kilometers an Hour

[Rick]

Scientists Find Galaxies Colliding at Millions of Kilometers an Hour

In a corner of space 290 million light-years from Earth, we're getting to see something truly epic in action.

There, four galaxies are closely interacting, the region filled with the detritus of past collisions, so vast and energetic that their interaction is lighting up the space between them with an X-ray shock-front.

The group is known as Stephan's Quintet (there's a fifth galaxy, but it's not actually sitting with the cool kids), and new observations reveal the intricacies of the ongoing activity. One of the four galaxies involved is stirring up trouble by smashing through the group like a wrecking ball at 3.2 million kilometers (2 million miles) per hour.

These findings will help scientists understand how giant galaxies interact, collide, and merge to produce even bigger galaxies where gravity draws them together across chasms of space-time.

More: https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-find-galaxies-colliding-at-millions-of-kilometers-an-hour

[Dave A]

Rick

Very interesting article - should be a good spot to observe and maybe image as well

[Rick]

should be a good spot to observe

I gather that Stephan's Quintet is quite a challenging imaging target, but I've certainly seen images of it in Astronomy Now, so if you have the kit, maybe give it a go!

[Carole]

Yes, l have seen it imaged a fair bit.  But it is small and needs a long focal length as well as dark skies.