what is happing
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by
cps20
why is this happing and how long will these 2 galaxy take to merge.
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by
cps20
Can anybody help me to solve to solve this.
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Capella05
moderator
Hi @cps20 😃
Welcome! These are simulated galaxies, and it does look like are indeed interacting / merging. As a 'super computer' was used to generated this image, I am sure it would be possible to visualise the end result. We just don't have access to those results!
In the real universe it could take several million years for the galaxies to merge!
Thanks for you help classifying and happy hunting!
Capella05
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KWillett
scientist, admin, translator
Yep. Just as a general timescale, major galaxies typically take something like ~100 million years to merge once they start as a close pair like this. We know that from simulations (like this one), analytical calculations of gravitational interactions, and from studies that count the number of galaxy pairs in the Universe and compare that to the number of galaxies we see merging!
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