The Hubble Space Telescope captured an image of a “monster merger” of two galaxies, NASA and the European Space Agency announced.
The image shows a “peculiar” galaxy, Arp 122, that’s actually comprised of two galaxies colliding in a “dramatic cosmic encounter” about 570 million light-years from Earth, NASA and ESA announced Friday.
The Hubble Space Telescope captured an image of Arp 122, a peculiar galaxy comprised of two galaxies — NGC 6040 and LEDA 59642 — in the midst of a collision. The encounter is located roughly 570 million light years from Earth. (ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. Dalcanton, Dark Energy Survey/DOE/FNAL/DECam/CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA; CC BY 4.0 Acknowledgement: L. Shatz)
“Galaxies are composed of stars and their solar systems, dust, gas, and invisible dark matter,” the announcement read. “In galactic collisions, therefore, these constituent components may experience enormous changes in the gravitational forces acting on them.”
“In time, this completely changes the structure of the two (or more) colliding galaxies, and sometimes ultimately results in a single, merged galaxy,” the announcement continued. “That may well be what results from the collision pictured in this image.”
Galaxies that formed from mergers have taken on a regular or elliptical structure, as the impact disrupts more complex structures, according to the joint announcement.
Megan Myers is an associate producer/writer with Fox News Digital Originals.
