Telescope captures striking image of three galaxies merging

The galactic chaos is causing the formation of many new stars

The Hubble Space Telescope has captured a striking image of three distant galaxies merging into one. Photo: Hubble Space Telescope / European Space Agency

The Hubble Space Telescope has captured a striking image of three distant galaxies merging into one.

Known as galaxy merger IC 2431, the phenomenon is taking place 681 million light years from Earth in the constellation Cancer.

The image shows the triple galaxy merger in progress, as well as a mixture of star formation and tidal distortions caused by the interactions of their gravitational forces.

There are billions of galaxies in the universe and it is common for them to interact when they drift too close to each other.

A merger is a major interaction that occurs when galaxies eventually collide. The largest destroys the smaller ones and ultimately a much larger galaxy is formed.

The galactic chaos causes the formation of many new stars.

“It is during rare merging events that galaxies undergo dramatic changes in their appearance and in their stellar content. These systems are excellent laboratories to trace the formation of star clusters under extreme physical conditions,” the European Space Agency said on its website.

“The Milky Way typically forms star clusters with masses that are 10 thousand times the mass of our Sun. This doesn’t compare to the masses of the star clusters forming in colliding galaxies, which can reach millions of times the mass of our Sun.”

The new James Webb Space Telescope, which was launched into space in December, will be able to study galaxy mergers in detail.

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