Ring Galaxy

2001. Acrylic on stretched canvas. 24"x36".

Collisions, side-swipes and near misses among galaxies are fairly common events. When galaxies collide, they are twisted out of shape by the gravitational interactions between them. Among the rarest of such events is the face-on, bulls-eye impact suffered by a spiral galaxy. The impacting galaxy creates a shock wave in the thin plane of the spiral like the ripple on the surface of a pond into which a rock has been dropped. The expanding shock wave crashes through the spiral's gas clouds, giving birth to great numbers of stars and temporarily transforming the spiral into a rare ring galaxy.



