Owlscrying Posted July 25, 2007 #1 Share Posted July 25, 2007 Ann Arbor, Mich. - The European Space Agency's orbiting X-ray telescope XXM-Newton and NASA's Chandra X-ray telescope have observed the merger of two galaxies. The satellite data have led astronomer Renato Dupke and colleagues at the University of Michigan to conclude the clusters collided at a speed of more than 2,000 miles per second. That is interesting because some computer models suggest such speeds are impossible to reach by celestial objects. When they collide -- believed to be a rare occurrence -- their internal gas is thrown out of equilibrium and, if unrecognized, causes underestimation of the mass by up to 20 percent. That is important since the masses of the various galaxy clusters are used to estimate the cosmological parameters that describe how the universe expands. So identifying colliding systems is central to understanding the universe. go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
. Alexandros . Posted July 27, 2007 #2 Share Posted July 27, 2007 BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted July 27, 2007 #3 Share Posted July 27, 2007 BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Eh No! The one thing that colliding galaxies don't do is go bang. Galaxies mostly consist of lot's of nothing. They are disrupted when they collide but the actual stars very rarely collide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
. Alexandros . Posted July 27, 2007 #4 Share Posted July 27, 2007 It was a joke, like a figure of speech, and i though people like you were smart enough to figure that out. geeeesh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted July 27, 2007 #5 Share Posted July 27, 2007 It was a joke, like a figure of speech, and i though people like you were smart enough to figure that out. geeeesh. We have smilies to indicate when we are making a joke. We also have rules about personal attacks and one word posts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DДrk_Lotu§ Posted July 28, 2007 #6 Share Posted July 28, 2007 great article owls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legatus Legionis Posted August 1, 2007 #7 Share Posted August 1, 2007 nice find. but what will happen if the centers collide or merge? will a catastrophic event occur? but i think even with 2,000 m/s it'll be long time that the centers will merge or collide. one last question for anyone who can answer this. is the other galaxy counterclockwise and the other clockwise? or are they both clockwise or both counterclockwise? i'm just curious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Startraveler Posted August 1, 2007 #8 Share Posted August 1, 2007 is the other galaxy counterclockwise and the other clockwise? or are they both clockwise or both counterclockwise? Surprisingly, this article is very sloppily written. They're not seeing two galaxies colliding, they're seeing two galaxy clusters colliding (confusingly, the article seems to use the terms interchangeably). Galaxy clusters are large groups of galaxies bound together gravitationally. This is like two swarms of gnats merging into one swarm (where each gnat is an individual galaxy). So it doesn't make much sense to talk about whether the cluster itself is rotating clockwise or counterclockwise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legatus Legionis Posted August 1, 2007 #9 Share Posted August 1, 2007 Surprisingly, this article is very sloppily written. They're not seeing two galaxies colliding, they're seeing two galaxy clusters colliding (confusingly, the article seems to use the terms interchangeably). Galaxy clusters are large groups of galaxies bound together gravitationally. This is like two swarms of gnats merging into one swarm (where each gnat is an individual galaxy). So it doesn't make much sense to talk about whether the cluster itself is rotating clockwise or counterclockwise. thanks.. darn.. sloppy article there. misleading me.. thanks Startraveler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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