Two overlapping spiral galaxies
are pictured in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.
The two galaxies, which have the uninspiring names SDSS J115331 and LEDA
2073461, 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 interacting galaxies in the past.
This image is one of many Hubble observations delving into highlights of the Galaxy Zoo project. Originally established in 2007, the Galaxy Zoo project and its
successors are massive citizen science projects which crowdsource
galaxy classifications from a pool of hundreds of thousands of
volunteers. These volunteers classify galaxies imaged by robotic
telescopes and are often the first to ever set eyes on an astronomical
object.
Over the course of the original Galaxy Zoo project,
volunteers discovered a menagerie of weird and wonderful galaxies such
as unusual 3-armed spiral galaxies and colliding ring galaxies. The
astronomers coordinating the project applied for Hubble time to observe
the most unusual inhabitants of the Galaxy Zoo — but true to the
project’s crowdsourced roots, the list of targets was chosen by a public
vote.
Source: ESA/Hubble/potw
