(ORDO NEWS) — An impressive trio of merging galaxies in the constellation Botes is at the center of this image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. These three galaxies are on their way to a collision.
Ultimately, they will merge into one large galaxy, distorting each other’s spiral structure in the process of mutual gravitational interaction.
An unrelated galaxy in the foreground appears to float serenely next to this scene, while the blurry outlines of much more distant galaxies are visible in the background.
This colliding trio, named SDSSCGB 10189, is a relatively rare combination of three large star-forming galaxies located just 50,000 light-years apart.
These galaxies are extremely close neighbors. The Milky Way’s galactic neighbors are much further away: Andromeda, the nearest large galaxy to us, is more than 2.5 million light-years from Earth.
This image comes from an observation designed to help astronomers understand the origins of the largest and most massive galaxies in the universe.
Such galactic giants are called the brightest cluster galaxies. Astronomers suspect that these galaxies are formed from the mergers of large, gas-rich galaxies like the ones seen here.
Scientists have turned to the Wide Angle Camera 3 and Advanced Imaging Camera to study this galactic trio in great detail, hoping to shed light on the formation of the most massive galaxies in the universe.
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