Image of the Day: The Great Andromeda Galaxy & Its Dwarf Satellite
Our Milky Way Galaxy is part of a gathering of about 25 galaxies known as the Local Group. Members include the Great Andromeda Galaxy (M31), the Large Magellanic Cloud, the Small Magellanic Cloud, Dwingeloo 1, several small irregular galaxies, and many dwarf elliptical and dwarf spheroidal galaxies. Pictured on the lower right is one of the dwarf ellipticals: NGC 205. The Andromeda Galaxy and the Milky Way are approaching one another at a speed of 100 to 140 kilometres per second. The collision is predicted to occur in about 2.5 billion years, the two merging to form a giant elliptical galaxy.
Credit & Copyright: Jean-Charles Cuillandre (CFHT) & Giovanni Anselmi (Coelum Astronomia),
So does it hurt when galaxies collide?
Posted by: JeffB | October 28, 2009 at 11:18 PM