Galactic Collisions

NGC 1614
Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Adamo

What happens when 2 objects collide? Well it depends on various things, what is the size/mass of the objects, what are their respective compositions etc. If the objects are of considerable size and mass then the results can be incredibly spectacular and even destructive. Now imagine 2 galaxies, hundreds of thousands to millions of light years across, hurtling towards each other at hundreds of kilometers per second. Thanks to hubble we don't need to imagine. The image above is not the first time hubble has captured such an event and this is not a recently discovered galaxy either but this image is new. NGC 1614 was discovered in 1885 by American astronomer Lewis Swift. This is the result of the merger of 2 galaxies, a trail arm of stars can be seen in the upper side of the image and by the looks of it the merger is not complete yet. A few other examples can be seen below:

UGC 2369
Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Evans 

ARP 87
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Space Telescope
Processing: Douglas Gardner

Studying such mergers will help us understand about the future of our own galaxy. Because one day this will happen between our Milky-way galaxy and neighboring galaxy Andromeda. This will happen about 4.5 billion years from now so no need to start worrying immediately. Once the merger is complete we will have an elliptical galaxy as a result. As chaotic as this event is it also looks like a beautiful galactic dance. A computer simulation of that merger can be seen on the following link, as well as some other details:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/30955

It is also available on youtube:
https://youtu.be/4disyKG7XtU


These mergers are not like two solid objects because we have to remember that there is a lot of empty space inside galaxies especially in the outer arms of spiral galaxies like ours so some objects might just pass through each other at first as the momentum of both galaxies will take them away from each other after they pass through. Then gravity will slow them down and bring them back towards each other and these passes might happen a few times before finally the galaxies merge completely. Mind you this process will take billions of years as can be seen in the simulation above. There will be rapid star formation as the gases from both galaxies merge. Regions that are more densely packed like the galactic cores may have more dramatic collisions. Not to mention the merger of the two super massive black holes at the centers of both galaxies, now that would be an event but sadly there is a good chance that you and I will not be around to see that ourselves. But thanks to hubble we have a good idea of what it might look like.

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