Simulating the Andromeda-Milky Way Collision

36K views · 664 reactions | This is what happens when galaxies collide. | Cosmoknowledge | Facebook

What happens when two large galaxies collide? 🔔Follow: @inspiredstarlab for more! A gradual waltz of stars and gas choreographed by gravity. Any image of a galactic collision captures just one instant in a billion year process. This simulation shows the entire collision sequence, and compares it with numerous different interacting galaxies observed by the Hubble Space Telescope. As this atlas of composite images illustrate, galaxy collisions produce a remarkable variety of intricate structures.