IG2007
"Don't criticize what you can't understand..."
Woah, that's quite interesting. It seems that the two galaxies have recently gone under a merger. And, it seems to me, just a guess, that the gravitational waves haven't yet reached the whole galaxy. But that is weird, because speed of gravity waves = light waves= radio waves. Either, there is something else we have not yet seen, like a small quasar or blackhole. Or, the stars take time to make a new orbit.Here is something I believe Indian Genius will enjoy. You remember that we talked about the two body system, in particular about Sun and Jupiter. Remember I said that just having a title about two bodies does not make the rest of the Universe(s) go away? Well I’m going to post about NGC5033. What, you complain, it doesn’t exist. It isn’t in the title! Well, sorry, it does exist and if you ascend to your roof you will find it at Right Ascension 13h 13m 25.5s and Declination +36o35’38 – well, I must admit that I haven’t been out to look. Anyway, for the sake of not arguing, let’s assume it is there, twinkling away at 10.8 magnitude (do galaxies twinkle, or just stars? I’ve forgotten. (If you want to check on that magnitude the reference is "NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database" (http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/). Results for NGC 5033.
Anyway, I bet you are asking, what has this to do with two bodies mutually attracting? Well, I hope we have agreed that there are more than two astronomical bodies in the Universe(s). So I want to discuss NGC5033.
NGC 5033 and the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 5005 comprise a physical galaxy pair. The two galaxies weakly influence each other gravitationally, but they are not yet close enough to each other to be distorted by the tidal forces of the gravitational interaction. The fainter irregular galaxy IC 4182 is also a member of this group. Obviously this group of galaxies will adjust to their own cog (centre of gravity) and our Sun and planet Jupiter are so far away that they can be counted as negligible. Actually, they are around 40 million light years away, so I am sure you will agree that the contributions gravity wise are pretty much zero.
BTW I should have mentioned that NGC5033 is a Seyfert Galaxy which, as you know, means that it is one of the two largest groups of active galaxies, along with quasars..
Now integral field spectroscopic observations of the centre of NGC 5033 indicate that the Seyfert nucleus is not located at the kinematic centre of the galaxy (the point around which the stars in the galaxies rotate). This suggests that this galaxy has undergone a merger.
The galaxy appears to have two different centres due to the conflict between the former centre and the centre after the merger. It also suggests that they have not yet (as of 40 million years ago ) sorted out where their cog is!
I think you might enjoy this because it shows the complete contrast between the two body scenario and the idea of two galaxies colliding and working out where the cog will be.
Seriously, I promised you something to stretch your brilliant brain. I hope this does.
Cat
Or, woah, that's even more interesting. The galaxies NGC 5005 and IC4182 have created a gravitational whirlpool in another part of NGC 5033. That's even more interesting to see three galaxies interacting within themselves in gravitational waves. This is really interesting.
Or, wait a sec, that's impossible! The space distortion of the previous blackhole that has been merged is still there! This is much more interesting if this is true.
PS:Cat, galaxies appear as small twinkling dots in the night sky as well. They also twinkle. It seems we have to change the poem. (hope you understand the last line, )
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