GalCrash Lab Exercise

In this lab, we will use the GalCrash interacting galaxy modeling applet to study various dynamical aspects of galaxy collisions.

Step 1: Formation of Tidal Tails

Here we will study the formation and evolution of tidal tails, the long streamers of stars which are ejected when galaxies collide. Remember that these features are caused by a combination of gravitational tidal force and the rotation of galaxies.

Step 2: Merger Dynamics

Now we will look at how the timescale for merging depends on the parameters of the encounter.

Step 3: (Advanced) Influence of Dark Halos

The dark matter halos have a big effect on the merging timescale and the evolution of tidal tails in galaxy collisions. The "Big Halo" option sets the dark matter halo to be four times bigger than in the standard galaxy models.

Step 4: Real Galaxies Step 5: Galaxy evolution