Today mark 100 years since thepublication of Einstein ’s general theory of relativity theory , and tomorrow the 150th anniversary of " Alice in Wonderland . " So NASA thought it would be aperfect occasionto release a seeable / X - ray ikon of the Cheshire Cat mathematical group of galaxies .
The Cheshire Cat is the final result of a little merger between two groups of galax . The eyes stand for the biggest galaxy in each group and they will eventually conflate into a single massive body . The smile and the arcs around the cat face are from four dissimilar beetleweed beyond the Cheshire Cat whose Inner Light is being magnified by the galaxy in the foreground .
The double is a noteworthy testament to one of the predictions of oecumenical relativity theory . Einstein take that any monumental target would warp space - meter around itself , which could wrench the object into a cosmic magnifying glass . This phenomenon was observe for the first time in 1919 by Eddington and it was thefirst testfor worldwide theory of relativity .
The purple gleaming in the photo represents the extent of blistering intergalactic gas within the group . Hydrogen gas is being heat up to million of degrees by the brawny supermassive black holes within the " left eye " and it indicates that the galaxies are racing towards each other at 1,350 kilometers per second ( more than 3 million mile per hour ) .
Astronomers have discussed the hereafter of the Cheshire Cat group in a recent composition publish by theAstrophysical Journal . They bear it to turn into afossil group , a possibly transient stage , where one giant elliptical galaxy dominates over a few smaller and fainter I . The two groups that collide to mould the Cheshire Cat are most potential former fossils and stargazer are interested in sympathize the evolution of such system .
After the Milky Way and Andromeda merge in about 5 billion years , the consequent egg-shaped galaxy might eventually be the plaza of a fogey mathematical group dominating a constellation of modest orbiter Galax urceolata . You and I will be gone by then , but peradventure " Alice in Wonderland " and oecumenical relativity will still be understand and appreciated .
