The merger of two galaxies that resemble butterflies spotted in space. Photo
The European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT), located in Chile, has taken a photo of two galaxies, NGC4567 and NGC4568, which are located in the constellation Virgo. The images turned out to be unique because the merger of the galaxies resembles the wings of a butterfly.
According to the observatory's website, the galaxies are located about 60 million light years from Earth. Such a collision is not uncommon (to see the photo, scroll down to the end of the news story).
"The image was taken by the Low Dispersion Spectrograph 2 (FORS2), which is mounted on the ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the Paranal Observatory in the Chilean Andes," the astronomers noted.
They suggested that the same fate is destined for the Milky Way, which, according to scientists, will experience a similar interaction with the neighboring Andromeda galaxy.
"The collision of galaxies is not something unique in the Universe. It's more like a waltz performed by stars, gas and dust under the influence of gravity," the experts said.
NGC4567 and NGC4568 are called butterfly galaxies because of their wing-like structure.
Source: ESO
It is noted that the image was created as part of the ESO Cosmic Gems program, an outreach initiative to create images of interesting, intriguing or visually appealing objects using ESO telescopes for educational and public purposes. All collected data can be used for scientific purposes and are available to astronomers through the ESO Science Archive.
The constellation Virgo is an equatorial zodiacal constellation located between Leo and Libra. In the modern era, the constellation Virgo is the location of the autumnal equinox.
The Milky Way is the galaxy in which the Earth is located. It is a gravitationally connected system of stars, star clusters, interstellar gas and dust, dark matter, and planets. All objects in the galaxy are moving about a common center of mass.
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