Effects of Collisions
• Stars pass “through” each other, although orbits disrupted
• Gas clouds collide
– Gas stripped away from stars
– Collisions cause bursts of star formation
• Ellipticals may be galaxies which have suffered collisions
• Spirals may be galaxies which have not suffered collisions
• Joshua Barnes (Hawaii) and the Space Telescope Science
Institude provide a simulation of the Antenna Galaxies:
http://imgsrc.stsci.edu/op/pubinfo/pr/1997/34/images/anima.m
ov