A Galactic Collision
ESA / Hubble & NASA, J. Dalcanton / DOE / FNAL / DECam / CTIO / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA
Day 6 of the 2024 Space Telescope Advent Calendar: a galactic collision. This Hubble image features Arp 122, a galaxy that actually comprises two vast galaxies colliding with each other—NGC 6040, the tilted, warped spiral galaxy at left, and LEDA 59642, the round, face-on spiral galaxy at right. This cosmic merger is taking place roughly 570 million light-years away from Earth, and has been unfolding over billions of years.
See the full advent calendar here, where a new image will be revealed each day until December 25.