Outer space is a deadly trap. Countless black holes and clouds of poisonous gases can destroy us in a split second. But sometimes catastrophic events create amazing beauty, like the “cosmic rose” - NGC 3256.
This extraterrestrial “plant” is 100 million light years away from our planet and is located in the constellation Sails. Here is an example of a massive galactic fusion. About 500 million years ago, galaxies met and formed NGC 3256. This is a group of hundreds of billions of stars merging into a single mass.
The Hubble Space Telescope managed to photograph this amazing sight. Astronomers have classified NGC 3256 as a bright infrared galaxy. That is, it is 100 billion times brighter than the Sun and acts as a favorable environment for the formation of new stars.
In a galactic merger, their stars rarely collide due to large distances. Instead, gas and dust begin to rotate, supporting the new gravitational force created by the collision. As a result, a bright glow is created.
In the central region of NGC 3256, more than 1,000 bright star clusters are visible. But this is not the limit, because gas and dust will once again create more stars. Astronomers perceive this spectacle as a stellar life cycle.
When something dies on Earth, it fertilizes the soil, which leads to the growth of new organisms. With the death of two galaxies, the environment is merged and formed to create new stars.
