Image: The Mice Galaxies are an example of interacting and merging galaxies. Credit: NASA/ESA Across the universe we see a countless number of galaxies. From spirals, ellipticals, and strangely shaped galaxies, the universe contains a wide variety of different shapes and sizes of galaxies. Sometimes galaxies interact, collide, and even merge together to form larger galaxies. This happens quite frequently across the universe and is important to the evolution of galaxies. Galaxies that pass close to one another will interact with each other through their gravity. The gravity of each galaxy pulls on the other, which can distort the galaxies shape. When two spiral galaxies interact, the gravity of these galaxies can even 'unwind' the galaxies spiral arms, stretching them out across space. This is how astronomers believe most, if not all, irregular galaxies form. As galaxies interact, they not only distort the shape of either galaxy, they also cause a phase of intense star formation, the effect of which is either one or both galaxies will become starburst galaxies. As two or more galaxies gravitationally interact with each other, tidal forces cause gas within both galaxies to clump together, leading to a phase of intense star formation. If two or more galaxies happen to collide, it's very unlikely that any stars will actually collide. However, it's very likely, perhaps even inevitable, that nebulae within both galaxies will collide. This colliding of nebulae will result in gas clumping together and gravitationally collapsing, leading to a phase of accelerated star formation. Because of this starburst phase, nearly all of the star forming material will be used up by the time the collision is done, and no new stars will be born within the galaxy. (Second comment below with more information 👇👇👇) - January 06, 2016 at 09:53AM Source: https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/hphotos-xfa1/t51.2885-15/e35/1208359_567858896696995_1669157668_n.jpg #nasa #space #iss #isro #mars #marsorbiter #outerspace #lightyears #milkyway #universe #galaxy #stars #sun #moon #saturn #jupiter #stumble #stumblespace

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