The Hubble Telescope displays rare, spectacular scenes colliding with six different galaxies



The Hubble Space Telescope team celebrated the beginning of 2021 with images of six different galaxy mergers. Left to right top: NGC 3256, NGC 1614, NGC 4194. Bottom: NGC 3690, NGC 6052, NGC 34.

NASA and ESA

‘Gather rounds and tell me about birds and bees – and galaxies. Sometimes, two galaxies come together with stunning results, including a stellar baby boom. The Hubble Space Telescope from NASA and the European Space Agency has gifted us with six rare views of the Galaxy merger, and each of them is a winner.

ESA released images to celebrate the beginning of 2021. “These systems are excellent laboratories for detecting the formation of star clusters in extreme physical conditions,” the agency said in a statement on Thursday. Star clusters are what they look like: clusters of stars.

The Galaxy NGC 3256 is located 100 million light-years away and is due to its dismal appearance for the Milky Way merger.

ESA / Hubble, NASA

The galaxies show all the signs of their wild paste. ESA describes the Galaxy NGC 3256 as strange and distorted. NGC 3690 is a “supernova factory”, and the image of NGC 6052 shows two galaxies in the process of colliding.

The Hubble Imaging Probe (HIPEEC) survey of Extreme Environment and Clusters (HIPEC) delivers images that focus on star clusters within galaxies and what happens to them when their host systems merge. Collisions feed into the formation of new stars by accelerating stellar birth rates.

The Milky Way galaxy usually forms star clusters that are 10,000 times larger than our Sun, the ESA said. “The constellations colliding in these constellations do not compare with the masses of clusters, which can reach tens of millions of times the number of our suns.”

HippEC researchers found large star clusters in merged galaxies that are very bright even after the collision action has calmed down. Mergers can be dramatic for merging galaxies, while viewers on Earth can safely see the beautiful look thanks to Hubble’s eager eyes.

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