Imagine the cosmic battlefield. There are no weapons, but giant galaxies break each other, tear the media between stars and create shock waves that pass through the universe. This is what is happening to a large extent, Stefan, a famous group of galaxies, which is about 94 million light -years away.
A new study used a telescope to calculate the speed that some galaxies collided with, and reached an amazing result: it is more than 2 million miles per hour. But this violent collision does not destroy anything on its way.
Galaxy
Five Stefan is basically a collection of five galaxies. Four of these galaxies already constitute the first abstract compact collection ever, about 150 years ago. Think of the five -year -old Stefan as a galaxy crossroads, where multiple galaxies converge, interact and disrupt. In particular, one galaxy (NGC 7318) was immersed in the group at a high speed, which leads to wide shock waves.
The disorders created here provoke the formation of stars, pressure and destroy molecular clouds, and change the structure of the galaxies themselves. Now, the researchers noticed this incident using one of the strongest telescopes in the Earth: The William William Horschel Telescope Express Explorer Explorer (weave) in La Palma, Spain.
A weaving spectrum, a modern tool of excellent accuracy, allowed scientists to plan the shock interface with unprecedented details. However, astronomers not only used this tool. They merged data from multiple sources, including radio notes from Sky Sky (Lofs), X -ray studies, and JWST archive data, to create a multi -wave width of the five -paved.
With all these data, they calculated that NGC 7318B is traveling at an amazing speed of more than 3.2 million km/h (2 million miles per hour), and collided with its neighbors and produces strong shock waves in nearby galaxies.
“Since its discovery in 1877, the five -year -old astronomers have been captured, because it represents a galaxy crossroads as it left the previous collisions between the galaxies behind a complex field of debris,” said researcher Dr. Marina Arnodova, of the University of Hirtfsfshire.
The dynamic activity in this galaxy group has now been awakened through a crash that does not believe more than 2 million miles per hour (3.2 million km/h), which leads to a very strong shock, very similar to a sound mutation of a jet fighter.
Hungarian shock science
Media shocks between galaxies resemble cosmic pressure cooks. It generates energy through turmoil, heating gas, causing stars formation or destroying molecular clouds.
Dr. Arnodova said: “As the shock moves through pockets of cold gas, it is transmitted at excessive speeds – several times in the speed of the mediator between the galaxies of the five -way Stephen – strong enough to tear the electrons of atoms, leaving behind a glowing path of charged gas, as shown in the weave.”
However, when the shock passes through the surrounding hot gas, it becomes much weaker, according to the PhD of Sumaydib Das, from the University of Hirtfserire.
Instead of causing a major disorder, the weak shock is pressed on hot gas, which leads to radio waves captured by radio telescopes such as LOFAR.
Therefore, despite the violence of this collision, some hydrogen granules and molecular dust alive, may form the basis for post -traumatic cooling and the formation of the potential new stars. In addition, the shock inflames radio emissions, which increases ten times the shine.
Pockets of thick gas and dust, protected from shock, continue to form a molecular hydrogen. Radio threads and built -in resources follow the effects of collision, including interactions with aircraft in NGC 7319.
This system shows how the Galaxy structure and chemistry collides, which provides an insight into the cosmic development. Thanks to advanced tools such as tissues and supplementary notes across the electromagnetic spectrum, scientists collect the complex story of these ratified galaxies.
Professor Javin Dalton, the main researcher in weaving in Rale to space and the University of Oxford:
“It is great to see the level of the details that were discovered here by weaving. In addition to the details of the shock and collision we see in the five -year -old, these notes provide a remarkable perspective about what may happen in the formation and development of faint galaxies that we see within the limits of our current ability.”
Magazine Reference: Mi Arnaudova et al, weaving the first lighting notes: the original and the shock front dynamics in the five -way Stephen, Monthly notifications of the Royal Astronomical Society (2024). DOI: 10.1093/Mnras/Stae2235
