Hubble Interacting Galaxy IRAS 21101

This system is an interacting galaxy pair. The interaction has disturbed both galaxies: the lower galaxy has a bizarre structure and a tidal tail emerges from the main body of the upper galaxy. The galaxy pair lies in a crowded field of Milky Way stars. IRAS 21101+5810 is located in the constellation of Cepheus, the King, about 550 million light-years away from Earth.

This image is part of a large collection of 59 images of merging galaxies taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and released on the occasion of its 18th anniversary on 24th April 2008.

About the data

HST Proposal: 10592 A. Evans (University of Virginia, Charlottesville/NRAO/Stony Brook University)