HUBBLE ATLAS
Hubble's newest camera takes a deep look at two merging galaxies (Mice Galaxies , NGC 4676) — image from the Hubble Space Telescope

Galaxies

Hubble's newest camera takes a deep look at two merging galaxies

April 30, 2002 · ESA/Hubble · Mice Galaxies , NGC 4676 · Coma Berenices

Zoom to full resolution See where it is in the 3D sky Original on ESA/Hubble ↗

Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), the newest camera on NASA / ESA Hubble Space Telescope, has captured a spectacular pair of galaxies engaged in a celestial dance of cat and mouse or, in this case, mouse and mouse.

Located 300 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices, the colliding galaxies have been nicknamed "The Mice" because of the long tails of stars and gas emanating from each galaxy. Otherwise known as NGC 4676, the pair will eventually merge into a single giant galaxy.