Long Trail of Clumpy Stars Follows Galaxy Interactions When galaxies go bump in the night, they cook up new generations of stars that might otherwise have never been born. These close encounters between galaxies cause a gravitational tug-of-war, and gas and dust are drawn out into large streamers.
Amid swirling gas and dust pulled by gravitational forces of interacting galaxies, there can be bursts of star formation, creating new generations of stars.
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has captured a "string of pearls" in a galactic collision. Galaxy AM 1054-325 has undergone a remarkable transformation, morphing from its traditional spiral shape into a mesmerizing S-shape under the gravitational influence of a neighboring galaxy.