What's the Latest Development? For the first time ever,
astronomers have observed how the colliding of two spiral
galaxies quickly extinguishes both their star-making powers. By
focusing a suite of telescopes on galaxy NGC 3801, an elliptical
galaxy which resulted from the recent collision of two spiral
galaxies, scientists were able to watch the early results of the
cosmic shakeup. They observed that the supermassive black holes,
lurking at the center of each galaxy, began consuming nearby
star-making clouds of gaseous elements, rapidly aging both
spiral galaxies by preventing new stars from forming. What's the
Big Idea? Our Milky Way is one such spiral galaxy and it is on a
collision course with its neighboring galaxy Andromeda, sitting
a relatively short distance of 2 million light years away.
Thanks to the gravitational attraction between their outward
spiral arms, astronomers estimate that they will begin to
collide in about 3 billion years. "When that happens, observers
on Earth will be able to watch fr