NASA Hubble Telescope Image Captures Galaxy Collision Shaping USS Enterprise for Sir Patrick Stewart
NASA honored British actor Sir Patrick Stewart following his death at age 86, sharing a Hubble Space Telescope image of interacting galaxies that resembles the fictional starship from Star Trek. Stewart passed away after a brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer’s and Lewy Body Dementia, leaving behind a legacy defined by his portrayal of Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men movies.
Cosmic Alignment in the Phoenix Constellation
The image features the galaxy triplet NGC 7764A, located in the constellation Phoenix. In the capture, two galaxies in the upper right interact directly, stretching out long trails of stars and gas that form the familiar profile of the USS Enterprise. Interactions between galaxies happen over long periods of time, meaning this strange formation produced by the merger isn’t going to change any time soon.
Space agencies, astronauts, and astronomers flooded social media with tributes to celebrate the actor’s contributions to the sci-fi genre. The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center shared the Hubble capture directly to its X feed.
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center has shared this image in tribute to Sir Patrick Stewart – galaxies colliding and forming the shape of the USS Enterprise#PatrickStewart #StarTrek #Hubble NASAhttps://t.co/LblIxTw6PX
“History will never forget the name Captain Picard. Thank you for inspiring the Next Generation of explorers.”
The Mechanics of Galactic Collisions
Galaxies merge on enormous scales, pulled together by gravity. Because the individual stars within merging galaxies are so far apart, it’s unlikely the stars would collide. Gravitational interactions instead churn up gas and dust and can even lead to new stars being born.
Our own Galaxy is on a collision course. Astronomers say the Milky Way will eventually collide with its galactic neighbour in a future event dubbed the Andromeda-Milky Way collision. Regarding the specific triplet in the Hubble image, NASA indicated that it remains unclear whether the galaxy to the lower left is interacting with the other two. Because they sit in such close proximity, it’s possible this is in fact a triple galaxy collision.
NASA just gave Captain Picard the ultimate send-off. A real Hubble image of colliding galaxies (NGC 7764A) that form the shape of the USS Enterprise — shared as a tribute to Sir Patrick Stewart.“History will never forget the name Captain Picard. Thank you for inspiring the… pic.twitter.com/1b5VSjy9jG”
