The Hubble Space Telescope has just released some spectacular new cosmic eye candy. This wild image shows NGC 6052, a pair of colliding galaxies 230 million light-years away.
William Herschel first discovered the object in 1784 and thought it was a single galaxy. More recent observations have demonstrated that’s not the case; instead, it consists of two galaxies merging under the influence of gravity. Last imaged in 2015, this newest observation presents a clear picture of the object using Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 instrument. Now, each individual galaxy is clearly visible; it looks as if the spiral of one galaxy seen head on is being absorbed by the other, viewed from the side. But one day they’ll merge so much they’ll be indistinguishable.
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