In the darkness, one can find light. This is clearly seen in one of the latest images from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, which depicts an intergalactic bridge.
Last week, the organization released a stunning image of Arp 248, also known as Wild's Triplet, which is a group of three small, interacting spiral galaxies.
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In this striking image, two of the three galaxies are visible in the foreground of the void of space. The two galaxies appear to be connected to each other by an “intergalactic bridge.” A third, disconnected realm appears farther away, covered in tiny flashes that represent the cosmic life of even more galaxies, scattered throughout the universe.
The most impressive part of this image is that, from Hubble's perspective, all three galaxies are close enough together to appear together on our computer screens.
In reality, these distant worlds are unimaginably large, with solar systems, exoplanets, and moons that shine just like our own moon.
It is almost impossible for us to comprehend the size of stars and planets, but we can see them in high definition on our computer screens.
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The two galaxies in this Hubble image appear to be connected by an intergalactic bridge as they both contain large amounts of material. They have strong gravitational forces and are attracted to each other, which creates a tidal tail, a stream of stars and dust.
Tidal tails are usually created when two galaxies are very close to each other and are on a path to merging into one massive galaxy. We've seen the amazing phenomenon several times already.
It's worth noting that our own galaxy is also on a collision course with the Andromeda galaxy. Perhaps they too will create some kind of intergalactic bridge, but don't worry.
Although planets and stars appear close together, the gap between them within galaxies is actually quite large.
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When galaxies merge, there are usually only a few collisions. It's like when two large groups of people enter a stadium – they merge into a large crowd, but individually they rarely collide with each other. They just end up close to each other. Now imagine the same thing happening, except the distance between the individuals is about a light year.
A few words about NASA's Hubble telescope
The Hubble Space Telescope was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It wasn't the first space telescope, but it's one of the largest and most versatile. The telescope operates alongside the world's newest and most powerful space telescope, the James Webb. Although the latter is much more advanced, Hubble still brings us interesting images from the depths of space.
Source: www.cnet.com
