A cosmic collision is coming our way. The Milky Way will collide with Andromeda, but it won't happened for another 3-billion years. If the collision occurs, the galaxies will likely merge into one larger galaxy. Various names have been proposed for the resulting merged galaxy, the most dominant being Milkomeda.
The news conference will be held in NASA Headquarters' James E. Webb Auditorium at 300 E St. SW in Washington and be shown live on NASA Television and on the agency's website.
It has been known for a long time that the Andromeda galaxy is approaching us. Because of uncertainties in Andromeda's motion, it has not been possible to determine whether the Milky Way will have a head-on collision or glancing blow with the neighboring galaxy billions of years in the future. Hubble's precise observations will settle this question.
Galaxies have a dynamical side. They have close encounters that sometimes end in grand mergers and overflowing sites of new star birth as the colliding galaxies morph into wondrous new shapes.
Credit: NASA, ESA, A. Evans (University of Virginia, Charlottesville/NRAO/Stony Brook University), and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration
The briefing participants are:
-- Roeland van der Marel, astronomer, Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore
-- Sangmo Tony Sohn, astronomer, Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore
-- Rosemary Wyse, professor, Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
-- John Grunsfeld, Associate Administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, Washington
Media can attend the event or ask questions by phone. For dial-in information, reporters must send an email listing their name, phone number and media affiliation to j.d.harrington@nasa.gov by noon on May 31.
Following the news conference, the panelists also will host a web chat at 3 p.m. to answer questions from the general public. Participate by visiting: http://www.nasa.gov/connect/chat/M31_collision_chat.html
Credit: NASA, ESA, A. Evans (University of Virginia, Charlottesville/NRAO/Stony Brook University), and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration
The briefing participants are:
-- Roeland van der Marel, astronomer, Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore
-- Sangmo Tony Sohn, astronomer, Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore
-- Rosemary Wyse, professor, Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
-- John Grunsfeld, Associate Administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, Washington
Media can attend the event or ask questions by phone. For dial-in information, reporters must send an email listing their name, phone number and media affiliation to j.d.harrington@nasa.gov by noon on May 31.
Following the news conference, the panelists also will host a web chat at 3 p.m. to answer questions from the general public. Participate by visiting: http://www.nasa.gov/connect/chat/M31_collision_chat.html
The Andromeda-Milky Way collision is a predicted galaxy collision that is due to take place in approximately 3 billion years' time between the two largest galaxies in the Local Group – the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy.
This composite image from the Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Hubble Space Telescope, and the Spitzer Space Telescope shows two colliding galaxies more than a 100 million years after they first impacted each other. The continuing collision of the Antennae galaxies, located about 62 million light years from Earth, has triggered the formation of millions of stars in clouds of dusts and gas.
This simulation follows the collision of two spiral galaxies that harbor giant black holes. The collision merges the black holes and stirs up gas in both galaxies. The merged black hole gorges on the feast and lights up, forming an active galactic nucleus called a quasar and creating a "wind" that blows away much of the galaxy's gas.
For NASA TV downlink information, schedules and links to streaming video, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
Headquarters, Washington
Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore
This composite image from the Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Hubble Space Telescope, and the Spitzer Space Telescope shows two colliding galaxies more than a 100 million years after they first impacted each other. The continuing collision of the Antennae galaxies, located about 62 million light years from Earth, has triggered the formation of millions of stars in clouds of dusts and gas.
This simulation follows the collision of two spiral galaxies that harbor giant black holes. The collision merges the black holes and stirs up gas in both galaxies. The merged black hole gorges on the feast and lights up, forming an active galactic nucleus called a quasar and creating a "wind" that blows away much of the galaxy's gas.
For NASA TV downlink information, schedules and links to streaming video, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
Contacts and sources:
J.D. Harrington Headquarters, Washington
Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore
No comments:
Post a Comment