When galaxies get-together, they provide an impressive light show, it has been revealed.
The pair of spiral galaxies, dubbed as NGC 2207 and IC 2163 located about 130 million light-years from Earth, in the constellation of Canis Major, have been caught in a grazing encounter.
NGC 2207 and IC 2163 have hosted three supernova explosions in the past 15 years and have produced one of the most bountiful collections of super bright X-ray lights known. These special objects, known as "ultraluminous X-ray sources" (ULXs), have been found using data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.
Colliding galaxies like this pair are well known to contain intense star formation. Shock waves, like the sonic booms from supersonic aircraft, form during the collision, leading to the collapse of clouds of gas and the formation of star clusters.
In fact, researchers estimate that the stars associated with the ULXs are very young and may only be about 10 million years old. In contrast, Earth's Sun was about halfway through its 10-billion-year lifetime.
Moreover, analysis showed that stars of various masses are forming in this galaxy pair at a rate equivalent to form 24 stars the mass of our Sun per year. In comparison, a galaxy like Earth's Milky Way was expected to spawn new stars at a rate equivalent to only about one to three new suns every year.