Image: Hubble captures a monster merger
Published Date: 1/15/2024
Source: phys.org
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features Arp 122, a peculiar galaxy that in fact comprises two galaxies—NGC 6040, the tilted, warped spiral galaxy and LEDA 59642, the round, face-on spiral—that are in the midst of a collision. This dramatic cosmic encounter is located at the very safe distance of roughly 570 million light-years from Earth. Peeking in at the lower-left corner is the elliptical galaxy NGC 6041, a central member of the galaxy cluster that Arp 122 resides in, but otherwise not participating in this monster merger.