Rare Phenomenon in the Universe, 3 Galaxies Unite
Rare Phenomenon in the Universe, 3 Galaxies Unite
There are many amazing things happening in the universe. Not long ago, researchers discovered the rare phenomenon of three galaxies uniting. What is this phenomenon like?
The team, led by Jonathan Williams of the University of Maryland, discovered a merging cluster of three galaxies. This combination may potentially have two active supermassive black holes. This allows astronomers to peer into the system dynamics of the two most extreme objects in the universe as they walk into each other.
To discover this unique system, Williams looked at data from a variety of sources, including the Very Large Array, European Southern Observatory, WM Keck Observatory, Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array. He sifted through all that data, then found the system in a very bright patch of sky some 800 million light years away.
Picdoc:Phys.org
As quoted from Phys, the three galaxies differ from each other in various ways. One galaxy known as a large rotating disc Seyfert type is known to have a supermassive black hole at its center.
Other galaxies are known as the low ionization nuclear emission line region or LINER galaxies. Some scientists have speculated that this galaxy also contains a supermassive black hole at its center, but this has not been proven.
Not to be outdone by its larger neighbour, a third galaxy without an active supermassive black hole, leaves a trail of dust behind it and appears to be traveling perpendicular to Earth. The combination of these factors allows data on the physical characteristics of the merger to be undetected.
Even with this wealth of data, there are still some confusing results. Getting a better understanding of what galaxies really are and the physics around the merging process itself will require more data.
Because of this, Williams plans to collect additional data using Hubble to shed more light on this already very bright and very interesting region of the sky
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