Skip to main content

Hubble image shows two overlapping galaxies in cosmic coincidence

This week’s image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows something of an optical illusion: two galaxies that appear to be colliding but are in fact merely overlapping by chance. Located more than a billion light-years away, the pair are two spiral galaxies, one face-on and one at an angle, which overlap to form a distinctive shape.

The galaxies, named SDSS J115331 and LEDA 2073461, were captured using Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys instrument.

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope imaged these two overlapping spiral galaxies named SDSS J115331 and LEDA 2073461, which lie more than a billion light-years from Earth. Despite appearing to collide in this image, the alignment of the two galaxies is likely just by chance – the two are not actually interacting. While these two galaxies might simply be ships that pass in the night, Hubble has captured a dazzling array of other, truly interacting galaxies.
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope imaged these two overlapping spiral galaxies named SDSS J115331 and LEDA 2073461, which lie more than a billion light-years from Earth. ESA/Hubble & NASA, W. Keel

“Despite appearing to collide in this image, the alignment of the two galaxies is likely just by chance – the two are not actually interacting,” Hubble scientists write. “While these two galaxies might simply be ships that pass in the night, Hubble has captured a dazzling array of other, truly interacting galaxies.”

Some previous Hubble images of actually interacting galaxies include the galaxies NGC 7469 and IC 5283, which are close enough together to be known by a shared name, Arp 298. In this pair, one larger barred spiral galaxy is slowly merging with a smaller companion galaxy. And earlier this year, Hubble captured another galactic merger in a system known as the Angel Wing, where the merging galaxies have created a wing-like shape.

A Hubble image from last year showed how extreme conditions in galactic mergers can pull galaxies into different shapes as spiral arms can become distorted by the enormous gravitational forces involved in interactions. These interactions can result in streams of matter flowing between two interacting galaxies as they move close together.

Finally, one of Hubble’s most impressive images of galaxies interacting has to be its portrait of an object called NCG 1741, where no less than four dwarf galaxies are found within 75,000 light-years of each other. All four of these galaxies would fit within the space taken up by the Milky Way, and eventually, the entire group is predicted to end up as one single merged galaxy.

Editors' Recommendations

Georgina Torbet
Georgina is the Digital Trends space writer, covering human space exploration, planetary science, and cosmology. She…
There’s a cosmic jellyfish in this week’s Hubble image
The galaxy JW100 (lower right) features prominently in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The streams of star-forming gas dripping from the disk of the galaxy like streaks of fresh paint are formed by a process called ram pressure stripping. Their resemblance to dangling tentacles led astronomers to refer to JW100 as a ‘jellyfish’ galaxy. JW100 is over 800 million light-years away, in the constellation Pegasus.

This week's Hubble image shows an unusual type of galaxy that might seen more at home in the ocean than among the stars: a jellyfish galaxy. These galaxies have a main body of stars, with tentacle-like structures reaching off away from the body in just one direction. This particular jellyfish galaxy, known as JW100, is located more than 800 million light-years away and is found in the constellation of Pegasus.

The jellyfish galaxy is located toward the bottom right of the image, with purple-pink tentacles of stars reaching downward. In the upper middle part of the image, you'll also see two very bright blobs, which are the core of another galaxy within the same galaxy cluster. This nearby galaxy, called IC 5338, is the brightest one within the cluster and has a large glowing area around it called a halo.

Read more
Hubble sees the changing seasons on Jupiter and Uranus
[Jupiter: left] - The forecast for Jupiter is for stormy weather at low northern latitudes. A prominent string of alternating storms is visible, forming a ‘vortex street’ as some planetary astronomers call it. [Uranus: right] - Uranus’s north pole shows a thickened photochemical haze that looks similar to the smog over cities. Several little storms can be seen near the edge of the polar haze boundary. Note: The planets do not appear in this image to scale.

Our planet isn't the only place in the solar system with dramatic weather changes. Other planets in the solar system also experience seasons, depending on their distance from the sun, and that affects their climates. One of the many jobs of the Hubble Space Telescope is to monitor the changing seasons on other planets, particularly the larger outer planets which aren't so often observed. And this week, scientist have released their newest views of Jupiter and Uranus, taken by Hubble and showing seasonal changes on the two planets.

Jupiter is far from the sun, so most of its heat comes not from outside but from within. Jupiter is thought to have a very high core temperature, which may be a result of how it was formed but could also be topped up by processes inside the planet. As this heat escapes from the planet's interior, it affects its atmosphere which contains multiple layers and has unusual features like geometric storms at its poles.

Read more
A sparkling field of stars cluster together in Hubble image
This image shows just a portion of M55, the cluster as a whole appears spherical because the stars’ intense gravitational attraction pulls them together. Hubble’s clear view above Earth’s atmosphere resolves individual stars in this cluster. Ground-based telescopes can also resolve individual stars in M55, but fewer stars are visible.

A sea of stars sparkles in this image from the Hubble Space Telescope. Showing an tremendous cluster of stars called a globular cluster, this view is located in the galaxy Messier 55.

A globular cluster is a group of stars which is tens of thousands or even millions of stars, and which is held together by gravity. That's why these clusters tend to form spherical shapes as the forces of gravity hold the cluster together.

Read more