This image, taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows a peculiar galaxy known as NGC 1487, lying about 30 million light-years away in the southern constellation of Eridanus.
Rather
than viewing a celestial object, it is actually better to think of this
as an event. Here, we are witnessing two or more galaxies in the act of
merging
together to form a single new galaxy. Each progenitor has lost almost
all traces of its original appearance, as stars and gas have been thrown
hither and thither by gravity in an elaborate cosmic whirl.
Unless
one is very much bigger than the other, galaxies are always disrupted
by the violence of the merging process. As a result, it is very
difficult to determine precisely what the original galaxies looked like
and, indeed, how many of them there were. In this case, it is possible
that we are seeing the merger of several dwarf galaxies that were previously clumped together in a small group.
Although
older yellow and red stars can be seen in the outer regions of the new
galaxy, its appearance is dominated by large areas of bright blue stars,
illuminating the patches of gas that gave them life. This burst of star formation may well have been triggered by the merger.
Source: ESA/HUBBLE- Space Telescope
