NASA shares image of galaxies merging 140 million light years from earth

NASA released photograph of two swirling galaxies merging in a galactic system 140 million light-years from the Earth and as these galaxies become one, shock waves rumble through both of them and trigger waves of new star formation.

The image showed two oval-shaped objects in close proximity emitting bundles of blue X-rays that illuminate the surrounding areas. Data from NASA’s Chandra Observatory shows 25 bright X-ray sources sprinkled throughout the galactic system.

NASA shared the photograph on Instagram and wrote, “Blended, not stirred, please” and further informed that the galactic system captured by its space-based telescopes is named Arp 299.

It wrote that there are 25 bright X-ray sources sprinkled throughout. Fourteen of these sources are such strong emitters of X-rays that astronomers categorize them as “ultra-luminous X-ray sources,” or ULXs.

“These ULXs are likely binary systems where a black hole or neutron star is pulling material from a companion star,” NASA said, and added that the image contains X-ray data from the Chandra observatory, the Hubble Space Telescope, and the NuSTAR X-ray telescope.