Cosmic Collisions in a Galaxy Cluster
Credit & Copyright: P. van Dokkum, M. Franx (U. Groningen/
U. Leiden),
ESA,
NASA
Explanation:
Hundreds of galaxies appear as faint smudges of light in
this Hubble Space Telescope picture of galaxy cluster MS1054-03.
Eight
billion
light-years away, the cluster is among the most
distant known clusters of galaxies and is now reported
to contain the largest number of
colliding galaxies ever found in a cluster.
Examples of these truly
cosmic collisions are shown in the
insets at the right.
Disrupted by gravitational effects, the colliding galaxies are thought
to merge over a billion years or so to form larger galaxies -
a theory of galaxy formation which seems to be
borne out by these results.
Though galaxy collisions appear to have occurred much more frequently
in the distant,
early Universe, they are still
seen to happen in the nearby, "close-to-present" Universe.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
