Galactic Cliché: Arp 107 – When the Universe Shares a Smile

In the constellation of Leo Minor, the James Webb Space Telescope has spotted an incredible spectacle. Indeed, some 465 million light-years from Earth, the astronomical telescope was able to capture the merger of two galaxies, Arp 107. But that's not the craziest part. Looking closely at the image, we can see a gigantic galactic smiley face quite clearly. Yet another case of cosmological pareidolia.

James Webb captures a galactic merger

The case of Arp 107 is far from being an isolated case. Indeed, this kind of event is common in the Universe. As its name indicates, it is the absorption of one galaxy by another.

If we approach the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), we learn that this phenomenon is not as cataclysmic as the term suggests. Indeed, when two galaxies collide, or merge, it is only due to gravity. If one has a stronger gravitational force, then it will absorb the other. But that does not mean that we could witness stellar collisions from very far away.

“There is a lot of space between stars and these collisions are very rare. Only gas clouds can collide because they are much more diffuse.” specifies the CEA. However, from this galactic fusion, several consequences can arise:

• Stars, because their orbits will be disrupted, may be ejected from the final galaxy.
• New stars can be born from the collision of gas clouds (nebulae)

So there should be no stellar or planetary collisions.

Arp 107, the galactic collision that makes you smile

In the image captured by the James Webb Space Telescope we can see the collision between two galaxies. However, what makes this image beautiful or at least interesting, apart from the fact that such an event is impressive, is the “smiley” that appears on the image.

Everyone will have their own opinion on whether it is “scary” to imagine such a face landing on us, even hundreds of millions of light years away, or whether it is “kind” in nature.

In any case, we can clearly see the eyes, the nose and the gigantic mouth.

photo credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI The compass arrows pointing north and east show the orientation of the image on the sky. Note that the relationship between north and east on the sky (as seen from below) is reversed compared to the direction arrows on a map of the ground (as seen from above). The scale bar is shown in light-years, which is the distance light travels in one Earth year. (It takes 75,000 years for light to travel a distance equal to the length of the bar.) One light-year is approximately 5.88 trillion miles or 9.46 trillion kilometers. The field of view of this image is approximately 450,000 light-years. This image shows invisible wavelengths in the near-infrared and mid-infrared that have been converted to colors for visible light. The color key indicates which NIRCam and MIRI filters were used when collecting the light. The color of each filter name is the color of visible light used to represent infrared light passing through that filter.

Our galaxy is going to experience a merger… or not

Indeed, this is a scenario that has been under study for many years. The Milky Way as we know it today may end up transforming into a new galaxy if it collides with its illustrious neighbor: M31, better known as Andromeda.

“If.” And yes, because if we were sure that such a scenario would happen, there would ultimately be a 50% chance that it would not happen. Indeed, according to a recent study published on the preprint server arXiv highlights the fact that the merger between the Milky Way and Andromeda would therefore have as much chance of happening as falling on a coin toss.

At least, in 5 billion years. Because researchers have estimated that if the merger between the two galaxies does not take place on this “date”, it could very well take place within 10 billion years. By then, the Earth and humanity will probably have disappeared due to the death of the Sun, which is scheduled for approximately the same time as the first galactic collision.

So we won't have the opportunity to verify our theories, however precise they may be. Unless humanity manages to find a new place to settle.

Source : Space