A stunning new photo from NOIRLabAstro shows two colliding galaxies.
As the Webb Space Telescope continues to dominate the news cycle with its record-setting imagery, other telescopes around the world continue to take exemplary photos. Case in point, the National Science Foundations' NOIRLab released a new image it captured Tuesday showing two galaxies in the process of colliding.
Located some 60 million light-years away from Earth in the Virgo constellation, the picture from NOIRLab's International Gemini Observatory shows two spiral galaxies merging. In the snapshot, galaxies NGC 4568 and NGC 4567 can be seen becoming one. Though merging, scientists say the centers of each galaxy are still around 20,000 light-years apart, the same distance from Earth to the center of the Milky Way galaxy.
More surprising, however, is that NOIRLabs says this photo best represents what will begin happening to the Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxy in roughly five billion years. "By combining decades of observations and computer modeling, astronomers now have compelling evidence that merging spiral galaxies like these go on to become elliptical galaxies," the outfit adds."It is likely that NGC 4568 and NGC 4567 will eventually resemble their more-mature neighbor Messier 89, an elliptical galaxy that also resides in the Virgo Cluster.
0commentsFor more photos from the Webb Space Telescope and other cosmic stories, check out our ComicBook Invasion hub here.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Webb telescope reveals unpredicted bounty of bright galaxies in early universeThe James Webb Space Telescope has only been watching the sky for a few weeks, and it has already delivered a startling finding: tens, hundreds, maybe even 1000 times more bright galaxies in the early universe than astronomers anticipated.
Read more »
New brown dwarf discovered from James Webb early release dataThanks to early release data from the James Webb telescope, a team of scientists have found a new T-type brown dwarf.
Read more »
What Below Deck Med’s Natasha Webb Regrets About Her Boatmance With Dave White - E! OnlineBelow Deck Mediterranean chief stew Natasha Webb revealed what really went down between her and chef Dave White during an exclusive interview with E! News.
Read more »
Judge reinstates 3rd-degree murder charges against Jayana Webb in fatal crash that killed 2 state troopers, pedestrianBREAKING: A judge has reinstated third-degree murder charges against Jayana Webb in a fatal crash that killed two state troopers and a pedestrian earlier this year.
Read more »