Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Mega Galaxy Merger

Hey Space Placers!

Here is something that you do not see every day - a merger of two massive galaxies at a time when the Universe was only 3 billion years old. This is definitely something astronomers do not see every day!


The Making of a Giant Galaxy

The two galaxies contain about 400 billion stars and the collision is producing an astounding 2,000 new stars a year due to the massive amounts of gas and dust available as raw material for new stars. By comparison our galaxy produces about 3 new stars a year.

Galaxy mergers are fairly common in the Universe but one so prolific in new star formation at such an early age in the Universe is very rare.

Read More About It: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-171

Sky Guy in VA

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