14 DAY TRIAL // About 100 million light-years away from our planet, two galaxies are on the verge of crashing into one another. The cosmic systems, dubbed NGC 7714 and NGC 7715, came close to each other eons ago and astronomers expect that they will soon collide.
Just yesterday, folks with the European Space Agency released a stunning image showing what the spiral galaxy NGC 7714 looks like now that it is about to crash into its companion, NGC 7715.
The space image, available next to this article, was obtained with the help of the Hubble Space Telescope. It reveals that, under the influence of its neighbor, the spiral galaxy has been bent and twisted out of shape. Thus, its arms are no longer wrapped around its core.
“The two galaxies drifted too close together between 100 and 200 million years ago, and began to drag at and disrupt one another’s structure and shape,” say the scientists now keeping tabs on the behavior of these cosmic systems.
What's more, ESA astronomers explain that the two galaxies are now connected by a bridge of gas, dust and even fully formed stars that is transporting material from NGC 7715 to the much-larger spiral galaxy NGC 7714. In turn, this material is feeding intense star formation processes.
As the two galaxies move even closer to each other in the millennia to come, they will continue to deform. Eventually, they will merge and birth a new cosmic system populated by an army of newborn stars, scientists explain.