Recently, two NASA space telescopes, the James Webb Space Telescope and Chandra X-Ray Observatory, captured images of two galaxies beginning to collide. NASA released a composite image showing both the visible and X-ray spectra of the collision. The smaller galaxy, IC 2163, is at the upper left, while NGC 2207 dominates the center and lower right. Their long, silvery-blue spiral arms are peppered with bright knots and specks, the telltale signposts of active, messy astrophysics in progress.
These galaxies grazed each other millions of years ago, in a gravitational close pass that bent and stretched their spiral structures. And, billions of years from now, the pair is expected to merge into a single galaxy.
