Galaxies Colliding??

[kennythewraith]

so i found some interesting new on my msn homepage today,nasa's spitzer space telescope caught something incredibly fascinating.
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archi...aspx?GT1=43001

[Ziel]

Cool, nice spot.

[Davidtourniquet]

No a galaxy colliding but it's a radio galaxy attacking another galaxy:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ch...ws/07-139.html

The thing is I'm working on this data for my final year project

[kennythewraith]

hows that going for u?i didnt understand half of what the article said but it is interesting.so can u explain in a dumb downed version wat is happening?

[Davidtourniquet]

Basically, all galaxies have supermassive black holes at the centre. Some are active (called active galactic nuclei). These AGN, are eating matter all the time and produce "jets". These jets can be hundreds of light years long. In the case of 3c321, one of the jets actually came into contact with a nearby galaxy.

[dboy-2007]

I thik i read that somewhere along the line in the very distant future the milkyway will collide with andromeda.

[Splitsecond]

I thik i read that somewhere along the line in the very distant future the milkyway will collide with andromeda.

Yes, it's expected to produce the Milkomeda galaxy in about 3 billion years. If Earth is between the two centres then we are likely to be pulled apart. If we're on the other side of the Milky Way we're likely to have the solar system ejected into intergalactic space.

[Professor D.H.D. Puddlejumper]

I thik i read that somewhere along the line in the very distant future the milkyway will collide with andromeda.

Yes. National Geographic channel just aired a show called "Monster of the Milky Way", an examination of black holes, what they are and their role in the life and death of galaxies. In it they show, using CGI effects, not only the impending collision of Andromeda and MW, but entire clusters of galaxies colliding.

Yes, it's expected to produce the Milkomeda galaxy in about 3 billion years. If Earth is between the two centres then we are likely to be pulled apart. If we're on the other side of the Milky Way we're likely to have the solar system ejected into intergalactic space.

Milkodmeda? Not bad. Or how about Andromedilky Way?

Hopefully the three billion years will allow us time to plan a move to quieter part of the universe.

[Rasunda]

I thik i read that somewhere along the line in the very distant future the milkyway will collide with andromeda.

Yes, I've heard that some where aswell...
...but it'll be in like 2 bilion years...

[jds1982]

Yes, it's expected to produce the Milkomeda galaxy in about 3 billion years. If Earth is between the two centres then we are likely to be pulled apart. If we're on the other side of the Milky Way we're likely to have the solar system ejected into intergalactic space.

What if we're halfway between those two points?

[Splitsecond]

What if we're halfway between those two points?

Nothing special. We'll just sort of stay in the same general area. Getting thrown into intergalactic space isn't a problem either, it just means there's a few less stars nearby.

[gkyun]

Or how about Andromedilky Way?

Nice!

One thing I'm curious about is, suppose the galactic core is indeed a super massive black hole, how would 2 galaxies colliding affect the properties of the 2 cores/black holes? Will they form a super-super massive black hole?

I'm assuming they won't be able to coexist upon collision as their respective gravitational pull would conflict with each other. So would they pull apart anything that's in their wake, destroying half of each galaxy in the process?

[kennythewraith]

wow this is all very confusing but also from i did understand pretty darn intersting....also i had no idea we were going to collide with another galaxy!!??

[Professor D.H.D. Puddlejumper]

wow this is all very confusing but also from i did understand pretty darn intersting....also i had no idea we were going to collide with another galaxy!!??

Don't worry. We have plenty of time to get out of the way. After it happens, however, a major lawsuit will ensue that will last for many millions of years after that.

[Davidtourniquet]

Nice!

One thing I'm curious about is, suppose the galactic core is indeed a super massive black hole, how would 2 galaxies colliding affect the properties of the 2 cores/black holes? Will they form a super-super massive black hole?

I'm assuming they won't be able to coexist upon collision as their respective gravitational pull would conflict with each other. So would they pull apart anything that's in their wake, destroying half of each galaxy in the process?

Well if you go back a couple of weeks, there was an article about researchers finding to merging black holes:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...tml?source=rss

It is possible, that when we merge with andromeda, that our SMBH will get "switch on" and so the new Milkromeda galaxy will contain an active galactic nuclei.