Head-on collision of two galaxy clusters - most powerful on record!

The perfect cosmic storm. Second only to the Big Bang in total energy output.

From: Massive merger of galaxies is the most powerful on record

With ESA�s XMM-Newton observatory, an international team of scientists has observed a nearby head-on collision of two galaxy clusters that has smashed together thousands of galaxies and millions upon millions of stars. It is one of the most powerful events ever witnessed. Such collisions are second only to the Big Bang in total energy output.

The event details what the scientists are calling the �perfect cosmic storm�: galaxy clusters that collided like two high-pressure weather fronts and created hurricane-like conditions, tossing galaxies far from their paths and churning shock waves of 100-million-degree gas through intergalactic space.
This unprecedented view of a merger in action crystallises the theory that the Universe built its magnificent hierarchal structure from the �bottom up� - essentially through mergers of smaller galaxies and galaxy clusters into bigger ones.

"Here before our eyes we see the making of one of the biggest objects in the Universe," said Dr Patrick Henry of the University of Hawaii, who led the study. "What was once two distinct but smaller galaxy clusters 300 million years ago is now one massive cluster in turmoil.�

[edit on 2004/11/9 by Hellmutt]

That looks really cool. How far away was this? Will anything register on earth if the shockwave ever gets to us? If it can even?

I couldn't even begin to imagine the power released by a collision of this magnitude. I wonder how many stars would actually be destroyed ? millions or billions. I wonder if the blackholes at the center of each will collide - this cuould vindicate the theories put forward.

I think Weller already started a discussion on the same news on September 23.

Giant Clusters Slam Into Each Other (Link To Video)

Same news different sources.

When galaxies collide the stars dont collide they are so far apart. The energy is usually from dust clouds colliding with each other. Also the time scales for collisions is billions of years.

Originally posted by IBM
When galaxies collide the stars dont collide they are so far apart. The energy is usually from dust clouds colliding with each other. Also the time scales for collisions is billions of years.

So you are saying that no collisions happen. Surely the galactic blackholes would cause massive destruction with their immense gravity.

As for billions of years it wouldn't take that long probably tens of millions of years.

Yes galaxies collide but their stars do not, they are simply too far apart. As in our case the Andromeda galaxy is heading for us. Imagine the night sky with such a beautiful galaxy in the sky.

Originally posted by mad scientist
So you are saying that no collisions happen. Surely the galactic blackholes would cause massive destruction with their immense gravity.

Distances betweeen stars are so great compared to their sizes that they go past each others. (/their collisions would be rare)

And no, those blackholes won't cause more mayhem than normal matter!
When star collapses to black hole gravity of that matter stays same.
Of course those very high speed matter jets from accretion disc would propably wipe out life from planets they hit. (or those planets)

Originally posted by IBM
As in our case the Andromeda galaxy is heading for us. Imagine the night sky with such a beautiful galaxy in the sky.

Well, maybe it's milky way that's going toward it. In space everything depends on viewpoint and there are no absolute directions which way is up, which forward or which place is center point of coordinate grid and to which every momevement is compared.

But that would be beautiful sight... with all those very bright (over thousand, even 50 000 times brighter than sun) supermassive stars everywhere and nice supernovas and GRBs after few millions years when most massive of them have "consumed their fuel"...
Especially if they don't destroy Earth!

[edit on 25-9-2004 by E_T]

Originally posted by E_T

Originally posted by mad scientist
So you are saying that no collisions happen. Surely the galactic blackholes would cause massive destruction with their immense gravity.

Distances betweeen stars are so great compared to their sizes that they go past each others. (/their collisions would be rare)

And no, those blackholes won't cause more mayhem than normal matter!
When star collapses to black hole gravity of that matter stays same.
Of course those very high speed matter jets from accretion disc would propably wipe out life from planets they hit. (or those planets)

They found evidence for this by tracing the wreckage today left in the merger's wake, spanning a distance of millions of light years. While other large mergers are known, none has been measured in such detail as Abell 754.

So what is all this galactic wreckage from ?

From what I am reading it 'used' to be the general consensus that stars wouldnt collide with eachother. Apparently now they feel there is substantial evidence supporting the contrary. This is also mentioned in the link in the first post, where they suggest stars collide all the time in our universe.

Originally posted by Lucid Lunacy
From what I am reading it 'used' to be the general consensus that stars wouldnt collide with eachother. Apparently now they feel there is substantial evidence supporting the contrary. This is also mentioned in the link in the first post, where they suggest stars collide all the time in our universe.

Where is the evidence that stars collide in galaxy collisions? I dont know what you are reading, but the fact is that ir is known currently that they do not collide.

I would think that it would be hard to say one way or the other that the stars actually collide in these types of occurances.

Galaxies, and all of the forces that lie within them, keeping thier stars in the patterns we are familiar with, would be pulling against each other, making the possibility of star collisions a possibility.

The time frame is so large for these events, and they happened so long ago, (in a galaxy far, far, away... ) that there will be no imperical evidence to prove either side of this particular debate right in our lifetime. Give me a call in about a thousand years, when we have historical documentation of something that hapened millions of years ago...

Well, I'm glad we aren't anywhere near that neighborhood, or Earth would be toast right now!

Stars may not be likely to collide, but their planets (and their moons) will be torn asunder from their orbits, and scattered everywhere. The energy released from the collision will also make many a star go supernova, and anything alive in either galaxy is not likely to survive the collision of the two galaxies.

If a black hole (like the ones at the center of most galaxies) absorbes anything, does this include other black holes? What's supposed to happen when two black holes collide?

Ok... what i dont understnad is how the hell we are watching a video of it, when it is going so ddamn fast. These galaxies are what? millions of light years across each? or what? thouasands of light years across...? I think it's like 1000 light years to get half way into our milky way from where we are.

Now....

Those galaxies collided milions of years ago, proabbly billions, etc...

And since we are that far away we are jsut getting this information now. But still shouldn't we be getting that information at the same speed those galaxies collided?

Now if those galaxie clusters are just say 1000 light years across each (and that number is being very very generous), And light and this energy is supposed to be moving at the speed of light, wouldn't we have to be recording those 2 galaxies collide for 1000 years, and then fast forward it millions of times faster to get that video of those 2 galaxes colliding?

Or was time in fact that fast billions of years ago and has since slowed down...? or what?

Now this picture below.... would the black circle planet like things be stars... or Black holes? I'm thinking black holes... They would suck in the light and the heat ;P

Originally posted by DaRAGE
Ok... what i dont understnad is how the hell we are watching a video of it, when it is going so ddamn fast. These galaxies are what? millions of light years across each? or what? thouasands of light years across...? I think it's like 1000 light years to get half way into our milky way from where we are.

What you are viewing is not the actual merger of the galaxy clusters. What you are seeing is nothing more than computer aided animation. Humans have not been around long enough to record the collision.

We didn't really observe the collision. We have only compiled the events together by observing the wreckage from the collision.

[edit on 29-9-2004 by BlackJackal]

Originally posted by ThunderCloud
The energy released from the collision will also make many a star go supernova

Nope, collision's shockwaves compress dust clouds and nebulas causing lot of them to "collapse" to short lived supermassive stars which go "Boom" in few million years.

This is what the Milkway has to look forward too in a few billion years Although the first contact of a collision on this type is a ghosting effect the ensuing mess is anything from ideal.

It would be cool to see a approaching galaxy take up half the night sky what a view that would be. If I could pick any time to live too see that would be it.