I'm an 'odd' duck.

If you are an occasional, or perhaps frequent reader of my blog.  You know I sometimes go on tangents...like my feelings about 'edjakated metrolgists'.  Or,  perhaps my Winter House Guest, Bobby.  And that my interests vary widely, and if there is a subject I know little about, I will spend hours researching that subject.

Every day, from my favorites list, I check pictures from three websites, each has an educational aspect.  One is related to Astronomy, one from Earth Science and one from NASA a view from space.  I can't tell you how much I've learned from visiting these sites.  Once in a while there will be one that is spectacular.  This morning's Astronomy picture is one of those.

It is a picture of two galaxies in close proximity, I swear, it looks like a flying owl, their suns shining brightly like owl eyes at night.  I began to read the article attached and learned these galaxies will eventually collide.  In a billion years or so. 

From the picture provided, thanks to Debora Meloy Elmegreen (Vassar College) et al and the Hubble Heritage Team, you would swear this event would be happening in a very short time, and that they are indeed on a collision course, resulting in one huge, smash, crash, explosion, explosion, explosion.  Fact is, the smaller galaxy (IC2163) is behind the larger one (NGC2207) and as they are slowly rotating into each other, pulling each other apart; the individual stars will miss each other as the two existing galaxies form a brand new one. 

 However, according to the article, the collision will have consequences, such as "tides of matter, sheets of shocked gas, lanes of dark dust, bursts of star formation, and streams of cast-away stars."  Wow, can you imagine all this?

I can...I'm imagining there are planets in these galaxies much like our earth, sustaining life.  Surely they are aware of this collision (or maybe not).  Anyway, I can see it now, their 'Hollywoods" making films of shock and awe, people running amok turning on each other, falling buildings everywhere, space junk plunging into their homes, their atmosphere becoming unlivable.  Reality is, this event takes place over a very long, long time, and I hope they are doing a better job of keeping their planets livable for the longest time possible, certainly, better than we are ours.

Let's face it, if you watch the news you know things like China's Air Pollution, the Greenhouse Effect, the Hole in the Ozone Layer, and Global Warming are all destroying the livability of Earth not just for the next few generations but for generations in the far, far future as well.  Perhaps we would be wise to pay better attention, who knows what affect our actions today will have on our galaxy tomorrow. 

And, so ends my edjakated rant for today.  I wish to thank the following for their help in providing all this information.

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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& Michigan Tech. U.