Merging Spiral Galaxies - simulating visual appearance

This video shows a computer simulation of the appearance of two merging spiral galaxies as they would appear through a telescope, including absorption of starlight by interstellar dust. The colors are approximately what would be perceived by the human eye. Credits: Patrik Jonsson, Greg Novak & Joel Primack, University of California, Santa Cruz.

This movie won a semifinalist honor (top ten in the category) in the 2008 NSF Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge, and was also featured in the National Geographic Special "Inside the Milky Way" in 2010. A high-quality version can be downloaded from http://code.google.com/p/sunrise/wiki/CoolImagesAndMovies

The song is "All's Well that Ends Well" by Nancy Abrams. You can find her web site at http://expandinguniverse.org/.

For a different view of the same simulation, check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsEzg9y9EO4 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIjcEnyicvc that give a better appreciation for how the brightness of the galaxies changes through the merger.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Astrophysics
• Astronomy
• Computer
• simulations
• Galaxies
• Galaxy
• mergers
• Radiation
• transfer

[andydiamos]

I'd also like to know what song this is. I'd be very interested in finding the music.

[lutorm]

I've added the source of the song to the movie description.

[PonThePony]

What song is this?

[lutorm]

I've added the source of the song to the movie description.

[funnyblackmans]

i think that a star is bound to hit another star in a galaxy crash. it would be like double as stuffed with stars as it is now

[lutorm]

But stare are not tightly packed. If you imagine the Sun being a 1" ball, the next star would be about 500 miles away. That's a lot of empty space to go around.

[tekkenhalo]

Wow the universe is amazing.

[skraptube]

@mantissa128 Thanks!

[mantissa128]

@skraptube Go to the poster's homepage for HD versions.

[mantissa128]

When they first collide, there's a whip of stars that flies off into space... imagine being on a world round a sun that's being flung out of your galaxy. You would have to move, or give up ever visiting another star. And the galaxy on the right, as the black hole centre swallows a few large clumps of stars and gas - all those planets, gone. Or being cooked alive by the radiation from 1,000,000+ degree interstellar gas.

Andromeda is coming. We have 3 to 5 billion years to get off this planet.

[skraptube]

I wish there were an HD version! I feel like I'm missing a lot of the beauty due to the video compression. Nevertheless, many thanks for posting!

[vatefsly]

I wonder : what's the percentage of stars that would be ejected from this cataclysm ? We can see some of the stars seem to go pretty far from the center(s) then come back, but I guess part of them will become "ronin" stars, no ?

[MegaKiller1020]

universe FTW!!

[monmarfori]

Music has virus.

[letsgoforajoyride]

norway and china anyone

[letsgoforajoyride]

learn how to spell infidel genius