Ring Galaxies

Ring galaxies are a special kind of colliding galaxy formed when a smaller galaxy passes through the center of a larger one.

The space between stars in a galaxy is vast, so when galaxies collide, the stars don’t actually crash into each other. Instead, it’s their gravity that makes a mess. It’s somewhat like ripples in a pond after a large rock has been thrown in.  As the ripples plow outward, clouds of interstellar gas and dust collide and compress creating their own gravity.  Eventually these gas clouds collapse and form new stars.  The ring is blue because the countless stars being formed by the gravity-ripple are new and hot.  The bright yellow light in the middle shows the older stars in the  galaxy.

The Double Ring Galaxies of Arp 147 from Hubble
Credit: M Livio et al. (STScI), ESA, NASA

Other colliding galaxies

Most of these photos from Hubble telescope via www.geology.com

2 thoughts on “COLLIDING GALAXIES

  1. this pictures are amazing………… but still I want to know if there are other creatures in other planets and galaxies………………

  2. THIS WEBSITE IS BEYOND WONDERFUL. LOVE LOVE ALL THE ANIMALS AND RANGE OF WONDERS YOU SHOW. IT IS UPLIFTING AND IT MAKES ME VERY HAPPY. THANK YOU FOR SHARING ALL THESE VIDEOS – IT IS A TRUE GIFT TO OTHERS. YOU HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO JOY – MUCH NEEDED IN THIS WORLD.

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