Can two galaxies exist in the same area?

Question

well can two galaxies both exist in the same place? almost as if they are together? i'm not sure how to say this but i was wondering if two galaxies can be in the same spot? like interloping? interlapping? lol

Answer 1

Galaxies pass through each other, and come out the other side.  Galaxies also cannibalize each other.  Also, Galaxies merge.

The Hubble Space Telescope recently release a whole bunch of really cool pictures of Arp galaxies.

Answer 2

There are galaxies in the process of colliding.

Check out Antennae_Galaxies on wikipedia.

Or the "siamese galaxies" NGC_4567_and_NGC_4568

Each antenna is a stream of stars that is being dragged out of its galaxy by the tidal effect of the other galaxy.

There can be dwarf galaxies in the process of being "devoured" by much larger galaxies.  Our own Galaxy is presently absorbing such a dwarf galaxy.  The one remaining arm of that galaxy is well inside our Galaxy.

Sometimes one galaxy goes through another.  This triggers a wave of density that travels through the larger galaxy, like rings around a rock dropped into a pond.  Dust and clouds thus compressed by the moving density wave have a sudden burst of new stars.

Check out Cartwheel_galaxy on wikipedia.

Or here: http://www.seds.org/hst/Cartwheel.html

We see these starburst galaxies after the fact.  But we can imagine that at some time in the past, at the moment that the smaller galaxy sent through the bigger one, you must have had two galaxies in the same spot.

Answer 3

I would say it's unlikely.

It's possible for galaxies to collide, since they are moving objects.  If this happens though, it usually spells doom for both of them.  Gravitational forces would basically not permit them to exist separately in the same space.

Answer 4

Actually, yes (well, sort of).  But its not a static affair, with the 2 galaxies simply sitting inside each other.

Galaxies do collide (this is common in the evolution of galaxies according to recent observations from Hubble).

But since galaxies are really mostly empty space (they are not solid objects), these are not collisions in the normal sense of the word, but are gravitational interaction.

Galaxies that collide often lead to a merger, creating one large galaxy (usually elliptical).

A few beautiful examples are:

- NGC 4676 ("The Mice")

- NGC 4038/NGC 4039 (the "Anntenae Galaxies")

- and my favourite M51 ("Whirlpool Galaxy")

Each of these (and many others) are interacting with each other to one degree of distortion or another.

Answer 5

Yes, they collide all the time.  Some get more damaged than others.

Here are a few examples:

http://hubblesite.org/gallery/album/enti...

http://hubblesite.org/gallery/album/enti...

http://hubblesite.org/gallery/album/enti...

http://hubblesite.org/gallery/album/enti...

Answer 6

My answer is no. The simple definition of a galaxy is a cluster of stars and planets. Galaxies can overlap but the space overlaping can't be considered as part of both. However, galaxies can collide together. Scientist have have found many galaxies (including our own contain a black hole in the center). So some galaxies can actually eat up another. The milky way will collide and fuse with the andromeda galaxy one day- don't worry it won't happen for millions of years.