NASA shares stunning image of ‘collision’ galaxy

While most researchers and astronomers flock to the Webb Space Telescope to get the latest and greatest images of the farthest reaches of space, other scientists continue to use its predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope, to supplement their research. One of those projects using Hubble recently brought back a stunning image of two distant galaxies that appear to be on a collision course with each other.

Two spiral galaxies more than a billion light-years from Earth were shared on NASA’s social media pages this week, and they can be seen crossing each other’s paths as if they were absorbing each other. However, as the space agency says, it’s all a cognitive trick and both galaxies are independently safe.

“At first glance, it appears that these two spiral galaxies, located more than a billion light-years from Earth, are overlapping each other,” reads the caption next to the image. “In fact, even though the two galaxies collide in this image, it’s likely that the alignment of the two galaxies was only by chance—they both don’t actually interact.”

NASA explains that the image was taken as part of Project Galaxy Zoo, a program launched in 2007 that uses astronomers and citizen scientists to help identify and classify galaxies across the known universe.

“Over the course of the original Galaxy Zoo project, volunteers discovered a host of strange and fascinating galaxies such as unusual three-armed spiral galaxies and colliding ring galaxies,” NASA adds. “The astronomers coordinating the project advanced Hubble time to observe the Galaxy Zoo’s most exotic inhabitants – but the target list was chosen by a public vote, and, in accordance with the collective project’s roots, the target list was chosen.”

You can read more about the Galaxy Zoo project here.

For more images from the Webb Space Telescope and other cosmic stories, check out the ComicBook Invasion Center here.

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