5 Galaxies Caught in a Leisurely Gravitational Dance

As part of its 32nd anniversary celebration Hubble is looking at an unusually close-knit collection of five galaxies named the Hickson Compact Group 40 , the image shows 5 Galaxies who are so close together they could fit into the Milky way if it was nearly twice the size it is , I imagine astronomy would be pretty amazing for any resident astronomers in any or all of those 5 Galaxies.

Though such cozy galaxy groupings can be found in the heart of huge galaxy clusters, these galaxies are notably isolated in their own small patch of the universe, in the direction of the constellation Hydra.

One possible explanation is that there's a lot of dark matter (an unknown and invisible form of matter) associated with these galaxies. If they come close together, then the dark matter can form a big cloud within which the galaxies are orbiting. As the galaxies plow through the dark matter, they feel a resistive force due to its gravitational effects. This slows their motion and makes the galaxies lose energy, so they fall together. Therefore, this snapshot catches the galaxies at a very special moment in their lifetimes. In about 1 billion years they will eventually collide and merge to form a giant elliptical galaxy.
hubblesite.org...

a reply to: gortex

Look at all that Beauty .

So many Galaxies , So much life and so many possibilities .

a reply to: gortex
That is just beautiful!! I still remember when the Pillars Of Life photo was released and was awe struck! You know when I have days that are tough and it seems like everything sucks I always try to remember about images like these and think about what the big picture is really all about.

a reply to: gortex

Thanks gortex!
Very, very cool.

You taught me something new today.
I love sitting out at night to look up and ponder our universe!
I love Hubble images….
With all that’s out there nobody will ever convince me we are alone even if I can’t prove.
I often quote Christs words.

In my Fathers house there are many mansions. I go there now to build one for you.
So I ask, if Christ is building us a mansion now, who are all the other ones for??
Maybe we’ve already been told we’re not alone.
My list of questions when I meet Him is lengthy LOL
I probably won’t need to ask though, when God takes me home maybe being filled with all the answers will be part of the deal…
Time will tell….

Cheers!

da pirate 😎

a reply to: gortex

Awesome... The night sky from a planet in one of those galaxies would be awesome.

The following link goes to a picture showing our night sky if the Andromeda galaxy were at the same brightens as the moon.


Andromeda galaxy at same brightness as our moon

I was definitely born in the wrong century. I'd rather be exploring space.