This week’s image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows two galaxies merging into one as gravity pulls them together. The two galaxies NGC 5953 and NGC 5954 are so close together that they also share the same name, known as Arp 91.
This object 100 million light years away demonstrates the extreme conditions that can occur when two giant galaxies collide.
The two galaxies that make up Arp 91 are spiral galaxies, like our galaxy, the Milky Way, but they appear to have different shapes in this image. This is because of our point of view from Earth. The lower galaxy, NGC 5953, can be seen straight ahead, while the upper right galaxy, NGC 5954, is visible from a wider angle.
When galaxies merge in this way, the result can be: either destroys or can create new types of galaxies. Sometimes one of the galaxies is destroyed in a collision. Other times, the two may merge into a new, larger galaxy.
“Arp 91 is a very clear example of galactic interaction,” Hubble scientists said to write. “NGC 5953 is clearly pulling NGC 5954, which looks like it extends a downward spiral arm. The great attraction of the two galaxies causes them to interact with each other. Such gravitational interactions are widespread and an important part of galaxy evolution. Most astronomers believe that collisions between spiral galaxies lead to the formation of a different type of galaxy known as elliptical galaxies.
“However, these highly energetic and massive collisions occur on a time scale that dwarfs human life. It happened over hundreds of millions of years, so we shouldn’t expect Arp 91 to look any different in the course of our lives!”
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