Gentle It Up | by Brian Koberlein

X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/S.Mineo et al, Optical: NASA/STScI, Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The picture reveals two colliding galaxies often known as NGC 2207 and IC 2163. ^{It’s a false-color picture, the place infrared is proven as darkish pink, seen is proven as regular, and x-ray is proven as purple. The primary impression you might need is that the picture appears awfully purple, and meaning there are many x-ray sources in these two galaxies.}

The rationale for that is that the 2 galaxies are colliding. Younger galaxies are likely to have a lot of gasoline and dirt round to make stars, to allow them to produce stars at a reasonably excessive charge, equivalent to we see in dusty starburst galaxies. However over time the speed of stellar manufacturing goes down because the free gasoline and dirt tends to get used up. Within the Milky Manner, for instance, new stars type at a charge of only one or 2 a 12 months.

NASA/CXC/SAO/S.Mineo et al

In these galaxies that charge is about 24 solar-mass stars per 12 months. We all know this due to the excessive variety of ultraluminous x-ray sources (ULXs), seen as vivid violet dots inside the picture. The celebrities related to these sources are solely about 10 million years outdated, and such sources don’t keep vivid for lengthy on astronomical scales.

Photographs equivalent to this additional help what we’ve lengthy thought, that galaxy collisions can fire up star manufacturing in galaxies.