This weeks picture is that of arp 272, or a picture of three galaxies colliding withing the Hercules galaxy cluster. The galaxies are 450 million light years away and the picture of these galaxies alone spans 150 thousand light years. Collectively, the data was gathered by the Hubble legacy archive, and the galaxy NGC 6050 near center, and IC 1179 at upper right depict a massive collision that occurs rather often in our universe. In fact, our galaxy and the Andromeda galaxy will be colliding in the far future. Overall, this picture gives us a glimpse into the future of our galaxy and even a small glimpse into how our universe functions.
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110922.html
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