GALACTIC JOUST IN COSMIC MEGA-MERGER

GALACTIC JOUST IN COSMIC MEGA-MERGER: An artist's impression shows a galactic merger in which the galaxy on the right hosts a quasar at its core, in this handout image released by the European Southern Observatory. Astronomers have observed two distant galaxies – both possessing roughly as many stars as our Milky Way – careening toward each other before their inevitable merger at a time when the universe was about a fifth its current age, a scene resembling two knights charging in a joust.

The galaxies, observed using two Chile-based telescopes, were seen as they existed about 11.4 billion years ago, approximately 2.4 billion years after the Big Bang event that initiated the universe.

"Much like jousting knights charging toward one another, these galaxies are rapidly approaching. One of them – the quasar host – emits a powerful beam of radiation that pierces the companion galaxy, like a lance. This radiation 'wounds' its 'opponent' as it disrupts the gas," said astronomer and co-lead author Pasquier Noterdaeme of the Paris Institute of Astrophysics in France.

PHOTO: REUTERS