Galaxy Collision Forms Mesmerizing 'Eyes in Space'

Two galaxies in deep space have been observed in a massive and violent collision, forming mesmerizing "eyes in space."

Astronomers were able to see these eyes in space using the ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter Array) telescope in the Atacama desert in Chile which captured these spiral galaxies from a distance of 114 million light years away in the Canis Major constellation.

In this rare image, two galaxies known as IC 2163 and NGC 2207 are seen merging into one that will last for a few ten millions of years. This is considered a relatively short period in a galaxy's lifetime.

According to astronomer Michele Kaufman from Ohio State University, these galaxy collisions are common. However, only a few mergers reveal an eye-like or ocular shape, which are known "galactic eyelids."

Astronomers tracked the movement of carbon monoxide gas inside the galaxy, revealing that a region of the galactic eyelid was hurtling inwards at 100 kilometers per second, but this gas motion quickly decelerated and continued to rotate away from the center.

Kaufman added that this rapid deceleration rate of gas makes the galactic eye in space even denser. This shows how the compression of this galactic encounter drives the gas to pile up and breed new star clusters, forming these dazzling "eyes in space."

ALMA data also predicts the velocities of molecular gas inside the galactic eyelids. Researchers say that this movement matches the result of the collisions based on computer simulations.

This new study was published in the Astrophysical Journal.