The collision of two spiral galaxies seems as bright as a newborn star captured by a space telescope. James Webb.
The collision of two galaxies, collectively known as Arp 220, created an infrared glow as bright as a trillion suns. For comparison, the luminosity of our galaxy (the Milky Way) is equivalent to about 10 billion suns.
The Arp 200 galactic collision lies 250 light-years away in the constellation Opheus and is the brightest of the three galaxy collisions closest to Earth.
Hey girl, are you ULIRG? because you shine brighter than a trillion suns ✨
Arp 220 is an ultra-luminous infrared galaxy (ULIRG) that emits 300 times more light than the Milky Way. It also glows brightest in infrared light, Webb’s specialty: https://t.co/EF5ygizgyA pic.twitter.com/KRgQ03DI3e
— NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) April 17, 2023
These two galaxies started colliding about 700 million years ago. When their gas and dust merged, an extremely bright glow appeared in the center of the image, reminiscent of the birth of a star.
About 200 massive star clusters are clustered in this dusty region, about 5,000 light-years across, or about 5% of the Milky Way’s diameter. However, in this “small” area there is an amount of gas equal to all the gas in our entire galaxy.
Previous observations of this stellar region with a radio telescope have revealed about 100 supernova remnants that occurred over an area of less than 500 light-years.
The Hubble Space Telescope was once able to detect the nuclei of colliding galaxies that are 1,200 light-years apart.
In 2008, the Hubble Space Telescope took a picture of ARP 220, two interacting galaxies located 250 million light-years away (left image).
In 2023, the James Webb Space Telescope took exactly the same picture with its infrared sensors (à droite).
1/4 pic.twitter.com/qkfwQHIb78
— Astropierre (@astropierre) April 18, 2023
Each of the cores has a rotating ring of stars that emit blinding infrared light. This light was registered by James Webb.
Blue color shows the “tails” of galaxies, i.e. material that moves away from them due to gravity. Finally, orange and red streams of organic matter are visible in merging galaxies.
According to CNN
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