This same phenomenon will occur between the Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxy in 5 billion years.
Galaxies NGC 4568 and NGC 4567 are about to merge in a preview of what will happen when the Milky Way and its closest large galactic neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy , collide in about 5 billion years.
The haunting image was captured by the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii and reveals a pair of interacting spiral galaxies as they begin to collide and merge.
These galaxies are entangled by their mutual gravitational field and will eventually combine to form a single elliptical galaxy in about 500 million years. Also seen in the image are the bright remnants of a supernova that was detected in 2020.
a unique event
Gemini North, one of the Gemini International Observatory’s twin telescopes, has observed the initial stages of this cosmic collision approximately 60 million light-years away in the direction of the constellation Virgo.
The two majestic spiral galaxies , NGC 4568 (bottom) and NGC 4567 (top), are about to undergo one of the most spectacular events in the Universe, a galactic merger. Today, the centers of these galaxies are still 20,000 light-years apart (about the distance between Earth and the center of the Milky Way ), and each galaxy still retains its original pinwheel shape. Those placid conditions, however, will change, NOIRLab, which operates the Gemini telescope, explains in a statement.
As NGC 4568 and NGC 4567 come together and merge, their dueling gravitational forces will unleash bursts of intense star formation and wildly distort their once-majestic structures. Over millions of years, the galaxies will repeatedly intersect in ever tighter loops, drawing in long streams of stars and gas until their individual structures become so completely mixed that a single , essentially spherical galaxy emerges from the chaos. By that time, much of the gas and dust (the fuel for star formation) in this system will have been used up or removed.
At some point it will happen to us
This merger is also a preview of what will happen when the Milky Way and its closest large galactic neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy , collide in about 5 billion years.
A bright region at the center of one of NGC 4568 ‘s sweeping spiral arms is the afterglow of a fading supernova, known as SN 2020fqv, that was detected in 2020. The new Gemini image was produced from data taken in 2020. By combining decades of observations and computer modelling, astronomers now have convincing evidence that merged spiral galaxies like these turn into elliptical galaxies . It is likely that NGC 4568 and NGC 4567they will eventually resemble their more mature neighbor Messier 89, an elliptical galaxy that also resides in the Virgo Cluster. With its dearth of star-forming gas, Messier 89 now exhibits minimal star formation and is composed primarily of older, low-mass stars and ancient globular clusters.