Ok, if we're calling a billion years "a relatively short period of time"Chris Peterson wrote: ↑Mon Aug 12, 2019 5:44 pmThe "violence" I see describes the collisions of gas and dust, not stars. And the time scale seems to me irrelevant. I don't think it's unreasonable to describe as "violent" any physical process that releases a lot of energy over a relatively short period of time, regardless of the spatial scale, regardless of the temporal scale.BDanielMayfield wrote: ↑Mon Aug 12, 2019 5:35 pmBut pferkul has a good point too. When galaxies "collide" their stars, having such vast distances between them in the first place, will almost never collide. The "violence" of an event that takes a billion or more years to occur is overstated for dramatic effect.Chris Peterson wrote: ↑Mon Aug 12, 2019 2:43 pm
Except that puffs of smoke don't interact with each other to create temperatures high enough to initiate nuclear fusion.
Bruce
APOD: Arp 87: Merging Galaxies from Hubble (2019 Aug 11)
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Re: APOD: Arp 87: Merging Galaxies from Hubble (2019 Aug 11)
Just as zero is not equal to infinity, everything coming from nothing is illogical.
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Re: APOD: Arp 87: Merging Galaxies from Hubble (2019 Aug 11)
I don't think we're talking about a billion years. These periods of collision leading to star formation are much shorter- a few hundred million years, perhaps. And yes, that is relatively short given orbital periods measured in billions of years.BDanielMayfield wrote: ↑Mon Aug 12, 2019 7:28 pmOk, if we're calling a billion years "a relatively short period of time" :!:Chris Peterson wrote: ↑Mon Aug 12, 2019 5:44 pmThe "violence" I see describes the collisions of gas and dust, not stars. And the time scale seems to me irrelevant. I don't think it's unreasonable to describe as "violent" any physical process that releases a lot of energy over a relatively short period of time, regardless of the spatial scale, regardless of the temporal scale.BDanielMayfield wrote: ↑Mon Aug 12, 2019 5:35 pm
But pferkul has a good point too. When galaxies "collide" their stars, having such vast distances between them in the first place, will almost never collide. The "violence" of an event that takes a billion or more years to occur is overstated for dramatic effect.
Bruce
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Re: APOD: Arp 87: Merging Galaxies from Hubble (2019 Aug 11)
Astronomers for some reason have a long history of using crappy words to describe the process of galactic interaction and merging. When I write about it myself I try to avoid harrowing anthropocentric descriptors. I describe it as a dance that leads to changes for both galaxies rather than a violent event or cannibalism (why do they call it cannibalism SO MUCH?)... anyway that's what you get when men run the show.
Just call me "geck" because "zilla" is like a last name.
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Re: APOD: Arp 87: Merging Galaxies from Hubble (2019 Aug 11)
Yes. Mergers is a more apt descriptor.geckzilla wrote: ↑Tue Aug 13, 2019 6:14 am Astronomers for some reason have a long history of using crappy words to describe the process of galactic interaction and merging. When I write about it myself I try to avoid harrowing anthropocentric descriptors. I describe it as a dance that leads to changes for both galaxies rather than a violent event or cannibalism (why do they call it cannibalism SO MUCH?)... anyway that's what you get when men run the show.
Just as zero is not equal to infinity, everything coming from nothing is illogical.