Cosmic Collision!!

The peculiar galaxy Centaurus A as seen in longer infrared wavelengths and X-rays. Inner structural features seen in this image are helping scientists to understand the mechanisms and interactions within the galaxy, as are the jets seen extending over thousands of light years from the black hole believed to be at its heart. Image credit: Far-infrared: ESA/Herschel/PACS/SPIRE/C.D. Wilson, MacMaster University, Canada; X-ray: ESA/XMM-Newton/EPIC

Infrared and X-ray observations from two space telescopes have been combined to create a unique look at violent events within the giant galaxy Centaurus A. The observations strengthen the view that the galaxy may have been created by the cataclysmic collision of two older galaxies.

The infrared light was captured by the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory, a mission with important NASA contributions. The X-ray observations were made by the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton space telescope.

Centaurus A is the closest giant elliptical galaxy to Earth, at a distance of around 12 million light-years. It stands out because it harbors a massive black hole at its core and emits intense blasts of radio waves.

Read the whole paper here


This Herschel Space Observatory image of Centaurus A combines long-wavelength infrared data from its Photoconductor Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS) taken at 100 microns, and its Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver (SPIRE) instruments at 250, 350 and 500 microns. Image credit: ESA/Herschel/PACS/SPIRE/C.D. Wilson, MacMaster University, Canada

Interactions between galaxies gives sometimes uncommon and odd shapes....



Source

wow that is a sneak peak of what is to come, as the Andromeda galaxy is on a COLLISION COURSE with our own Milky way.

reply to post by BiggerPicture


yes... in several billion years probably...

Colliding galaxies are one of the most beautiful sights...except for nebulas

reply to post by elevenaugust


J'aime espace cosmique!

Two ginormous galaxies colliding into each other...such epic proportions. You always deliver such interesting space-related threads. S&F

I would imagine that for the inhabitants of the galaxies there some of them would get quite lucky with their solar system not getting too messed up by gravitic chaos and not getting flung into deep space whereas others get really unlucky and get pounded with rogue stars and wandering black holes and the occasional hypervelocity super-jupiter type objects. I can't imagine that would be fun for inhabited worlds though.

Originally posted by Mkoll
I would imagine that for the inhabitants of the galaxies there some of them would get quite lucky with their solar system not getting too messed up by gravitic chaos and not getting flung into deep space whereas others get really unlucky and get pounded with rogue stars and wandering black holes and the occasional hypervelocity super-jupiter type objects. I can't imagine that would be fun for inhabited worlds though.

maybe that's why they have come to earth (water planet in a stable galaxy). now they are trying to figure out how to intergrate, without having to dodge every tom, dick, and harry (human) with a gun, cannon, or missle trying to blow their ass away

reply to post by jimmyx


If they can cross galaxies why can't they just harvest comets and ice moons for water, organics, and other useful things terraform some place?

reply to post by Mkoll


Stop using logic.

'new' images - keep in mind centaurus a is 12M light yrs away - show an extreme, explosively bright glow

Centauras A, the closest 'radio galaxy' to Earth, shows one system that lies within it ingesting another. Experts now think Centaurus A was formed by a merger between two separate galaxies -- and this new image goes a long way to backing that theory, it is claimed. The dusty band at the centre of the newly-released image is thought to be the mangled remains of a spiral galaxy being ripped apart by a giant elliptical galaxy.And the phenomenon is set to be a feature of our skies for a while yet as it will take another couple of hundred million years for the stricken system to fully disappear. Centaurus A has a central black hole with a mass of about 100 million times that of the Sun. Astronomers believe that this vast black hole produces the system's abnormally strong radio frequencies, as well as its bright nucleus and jet features.

reply to post by jimmyx


If they had the technology to get here they would have the technology to eradicate, subjagate, or force us into acceptance.