VV 340, also known as Arp 302, provides a textbook example of colliding galaxies seen in the early stages of their interaction. The edge-on galaxy near the top of the image is VV 340 North and the face-on galaxy at the bottom of the image is VV 340 South. Millions of years later these two spirals will merge — much like the Milky Way and Andromeda will likely do billions of years from now. Data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory (purple) are shown here along with optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope (red, green, blue). VV 340 is located about 450 million light years from Earth.
Of course, the “about to” part will last a few million years. Or rather, it has lasted a few million years, since it already happened but we can’t see it in real time because of the speed of light.
I hope someone is setting up a camera that lasts for a few millenia, because that’s going to be one hell of a time lapse. [NASA]
Jon
Saturday, August 13, 2011 at 1:42 PMMakes you wonder whether there’s any intelligent life among any of the solar systems within these two galaxies.
If so this merger is a catastrophic event as gravity would be tearing these solar systems apart as the two galaxies merge. There would be no escape unless a species had the capacity for inter-galactic travel.
Nayrion
Saturday, August 13, 2011 at 3:41 PMMaybe they put a galaxy tax in place to stop the threat of the “big galaxies”
Andrew
Saturday, August 13, 2011 at 4:41 PMGood news everyone. They’ve done simulations of the Milky Way colliding with Andromeda. There’s a 3% chance that we’d be flung out into the void. Our solar system would likely stay in tact.. but our Sun will die a while before it gets here in a few billion years time anyway.
Steve
Saturday, August 13, 2011 at 6:08 PMGalaxies are obscenely huge, and their very superficially dense nature belies the fact that solar systems are at LEAST several light-years apart. They’re like atoms, nearly all empty space and without even electromagnetic forces forcing them together.
xWisp
Sunday, August 14, 2011 at 12:13 AMwhether there was any intelligent life*
EckyThump
Sunday, August 14, 2011 at 10:48 AMThe probability of solar systems actually colliding are quite low according to the math crunchers! This however, depending on how long they take to actually merge should show how many solar systems do actually collide! Break out the popcorn people and watch the carnage…
Ethan
Sunday, August 14, 2011 at 8:57 PMHaha, the cool bit is it will have already happened, we just won’t see it for a while, thanks to the distance :D