Galactic Waterspout

esahubble_potw2042a October 19th, 2020

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, SDSS, J. DalcantonAcknowledgement: Judy Schmidt (Geckzilla)

In this spectacular image captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, the galaxy NGC 2799 (on the left) is seemingly being pulled into the centre of the galaxy NGC 2798 (on the right). Interacting galaxies, such as these, are so named because of the influence they have on each other, which may eventually result in a merger or a unique formation. Already, these two galaxies have seemingly formed a sideways waterspout, with stars from NGC 2799 appearing to fall into NGC 2798 almost like drops of water. Galactic mergers can take place over several hundred million to over a billion years. While one might think the merger of two galaxies would be catastrophic for the stellar systems within, the sheer amount of space between stars means that stellar collisions are unlikely and stars typically drift past each other.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw2042a/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, None, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License