The Spitzer photo atlas of galactic 'train wrecks'
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 - 20:30
in Astronomy & Space
Five billion years from now, our Milky Way galaxy will collide with the Andromeda galaxy. This will mark a moment of both destruction and creation. The galaxies will lose their separate identities as they merge into one. At the same time, cosmic clouds of gas and dust will smash together, triggering the birth of new stars. To understand our past and imagine our future, we must understand what happens when galaxies collide.