When two cannibal galaxies collide and eat each other, the black holes at their centers are especially active.
Andromeda was first studied in detail in the 1970syears, and already in the 1990s, extensive observations began with the help of the Hubble Space Telescope. The observatory helped determine that the neighboring galaxy has a strange elongated oval mass in the center. In general, astronomers expected to find a round star cluster there that surrounds the supermassive black hole of Andromeda.
Andromeda Galaxy. Source: Wikimedia Commons
It is believed that Andromeda was formed inthe collision of two supermassive black holes billions of years ago. Researchers at the University of California at Boulder used computer simulations to understand what happens during such an event. They found that the force that occurs when one galaxy is devoured by another can bend and pull the orbits of stars toward their center.
Graph showing a galaxy before (left) and after (right) a gravitational “blow.” Stephen Burrows
Scientists believe that this led to the fact thatAndromeda is oval in shape. The authors of the work note that its discovery will help explain the large number of galaxies of different shapes that have been observed in the Universe. Many of them are not as symmetrical as the Milky Way.
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