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NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has captured an incredible picture of the collision of two galaxies.
The galaxies, collectively known as NGC 6052, are located in the constellation Hercules, about 230 million light years from Earth. They were discovered in 1784 by William Herschel. Initially, they were misclassified into a galaxy because of their "strange shape," but over time, it was determined that NGC 6052 was actually two separate galaxies colliding.
"A long time ago, gravity brought the two galaxies closer to their chaotic state," NASA wrote on its website. "The stars in the interior of the two original galaxies are now following new trajectories caused by the new gravitational effects."
NASA continued, "However, real star collisions are very rare because they are very small compared to the distances between them (most galaxies are empty spaces). Finally, the galaxies will merge to form a single, stable galaxy. "
The government space agency added that the Milky Way would collide with our nearest neighboring galaxy, the Andromeda galaxy. However, for those who fear that this will happen in their lifetime, they can rest easy at night – this will not happen before another 4 billion years.
Hubble had previously observed NGC 6052 with its former wide-field and 2-planetary camera. The new image was taken with its new wide-field, planetary camera 3.
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