An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
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The collision of two → black holes in a → binary black hole system once they come so close that they cannot escape each other's gravity. They will merge in an extremely violent event to become one more massive black hole. The merger would produce tremendous energy and send massive ripples, called → gravitational waves, through the → space-time fabric of the Universe. Such an event (called GW150914) was first detected by the → Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) on September 14, 2015. The initial black hole masses were 36 and 29 Msun which gave a final black hole mass of 62 Msun, with 3 Msun radiated in gravitational waves. The event happened at a distance of 1.3 billion → light-years from Earth (Abbott et al., 2016, Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 061102). Black hole merger is preceded by → inspiral and followed by → ringdown.

→ black; → hole; → merger.

A merger between → gas-poor  → early-type galaxies.

→ dry; → merger.

The → merging of two spiral galaxies with roughly equal masses colliding at appropriate angles. The dynamical friction is so efficient that the galaxies merge after only a few perigalactic passages.

→ major; → merger.

1) Any combination of two or more bodies into a single body. In particular, the formation of a galaxy from the collision of two or more separate galaxies.
2) An act or instance of merging.

From → merge + -er (as in waiver).

Tašké; tašk, nouns from taškidan, → merge.

The process of collision between galaxies which leads to a single galaxy.

→ merger; → process.

A method used in → numerical simulations for studying the growth and development of galaxies and → dark matter halos. Within the currently accepted ΛCDM cosmology, dark matter halos merge from small → clumps to ever larger structures. This merging history can be traced in simulations and stored in the form of merger trees. Merger trees are necessary because a galaxy may have more than one → progenitor at an early time.

→ merger; → tree.

The → merging in which one of the galaxies is significantly larger than the other (mass ratios above 10). The larger galaxy will often "swallow" the smaller satellite galaxy. The swallowed galaxy can trigger disk and nuclear star formation or activate a central core with shells that surround the predator.

→ minor; → merger.

A merger that takes place when a → gas-poor galaxy collides with a → gas-rich galaxy.

Past-participle of → mix; → merger.

A merger between → gas-rich galaxies. Wet mergers may lead to enhanced star formation, trigger → active galactic nuclei, and transform a → disk galaxy into an → elliptical galaxy. The larger the → redshift, the wetter mergers should be.

→ wet; → merger.