Q&A: Galaxies, Galaxy Clusters, AGN, and Quasars

Q:
In a recent release from Chandra, you show a galaxy called C153. What if there were a human populated planet in this mess. Would they be in survivable conditions?

A:
It's impossible to know for sure, but we suspect that human populated planets in this mess would be safe from this sort of interaction. The gas in the galaxy is being ripped out, but the orbits of the stars shouldn't be affected. But, this interaction is bad news for new star formation.

More information on C153 is available at:
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2004/c153/