Blog

Aug 10, 2022

‘Cosmic butterfly’ wings shimmer in image of violently colliding galaxies

Posted by in category: space

The two spiral galaxies are about 60 million light-years from Earth.


Astronomers at the Gemini North telescope in Hawai’i have released a stunning image that shows two spiral galaxies in the process of colliding and merging.

The clashing galaxies NGC 4,568 and NGC 4,567 — also known as the Butterfly galaxies due to the dual-lobed shape their interaction causes — are located 60 million light-years away from Earth in the Virgo Cluster and will form a brand new elliptical galaxy in around 500 million years, according to a statement from NOIRLab, which operates the Gemini North telescope.

Comments are closed.