Hubble captures new photo showing merger of two galaxies

The new image captured by the Hubble Space Telescope depicts an exciting snapshot of a galactic collision, illustrating the dynamic process of two galaxies merging. At first glance, it appears to be a single galaxy, but in reality, it is two distinct galaxies—NGC 6040 and LEDA 59642—engaged in a spiral "dance." The object is situated at a safe distance, approximately 570 million light-years away from Earth.

This event represents a protracted process unfolding over a slow time interval. For instance, our own Milky Way is expected to collide with the neighboring Andromeda Galaxy (M31), but this encounter is projected to occur in about 4 billion years. The collision captured in this image, considered a typical case, may take millions of years to complete. The vast distances in space contribute to the prolonged nature of such events.

Galaxies are clusters of stars, solar systems, dust, gas, and dark matter. During galactic collisions and mergers, gravitational forces act on these components, causing changes in their structure and form. It is through these processes that galaxies acquire new shapes or merge entirely, creating new formations. A similar transformation is anticipated for the objects involved in the collision depicted in this image.

Galaxies resulting from mergers typically adopt an elliptical structure, as the merging process disrupts the more complex structures characteristic of spiral galaxies. The galaxy Arp 122 is likely to exhibit a similar structure after the completion of its collision. However, observing this transformation in its entirety will require a considerable amount of time.