A new image taken by the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii shows a pair of interacting spiral
Gemini North, one of the twin telescopesGemini International Observatory, managed by NSF's NOIRLab. He observed the initial stages of the cosmic collision approximately 60 million light years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Virgo.
Two spiral galaxies, NGC 4568 (bottomimages) and NGC 4567 (above), are preparing to experience one of the most exciting events in the Universe—a galactic merger. Now their centers are still 20,000 light years away from each other. At this same distance the Earth is located from the center of the Milky Way. Each galaxy still retains its original "pinwheel" shape. However, this will soon change.
As NGC 4568 and NGC 4567will approach and merge, gravitational forces will cause bursts of intense star formation and will greatly distort their structures. Over millions of years, the two objects will mix so thoroughly that a single, essentially spherical galaxy will emerge from the chaos. By this point, most of the gas and dust (fuel for star formation) in this system will have been used up.
Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA
Image processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF’s NOIRLab), J. Miller (Gemini Observatory/NSF’s NOIRLab), M. Zamani (NSF’s NOIRLab) & D. de Martin (NSF's NOIRLab)
A bright area in the center of one of the widespiral arms of NGC 4568 is the fading afterglow of a supernova known as SN 2020fqv. As the scientists noted, the merger of NGC 4568 and NGC 4567 provides a glimpse of what will happen when the Milky Way and its closest neighbor, the Andromeda galaxy, collide in about 5 billion years.
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