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Colliding Galaxy Pair Arp 142 Takes Flight (Narrated)

The southern constellation Hydra is home to an unusual deep-sky object. Located 326 million light-years away, it was first cataloged in the 1960s as a peculiar galaxy. In this Hubble Space Telescope view, the celestial wonder looks more like a hummingbird next to an egg. In reality, it is a pair of galaxies that are colliding with each other. The blue galaxy once had a pinwheel shape, like that of our Milky Way. But the gravitational pull of a nearby companion galaxy has stretched it like a piece of taffy. Collisions like this were common in the early universe.
  • Release Date
    June 20, 2013
  • Science Release
    Colliding Galaxy Pair Takes Flight
    Read the release
  • Credits
    NASA, ESA, G. Bacon, L. Frattare, Z. Levay, and F. Summers (Viz 3D Team, STScI), and M. Estacion (STScI)

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    mp4 (15.12 MB)
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    mp4 (6.93 MB)

Related Images & Videos

Three galaxies in a vertical image. Top one is small, blue, and vertical. The middle galaxy is half-curved around the lower galaxy and by far the largest. The lowest galaxy is a bright white orb.

Colliding Galaxy Pair Arp 142

This striking NASA Hubble Space Telescope image, which shows what looks like the profile of a celestial bird, belies the fact that close encounters between galaxies are a messy business. This interacting galaxy duo is collectively called Arp 142. The pair contains the disturbed,...

Compass and Scale Image for Arp 142

Compass and Scale Image for Arp 142

Colliding Galaxy Pair Arp 142 Takes Flight

Colliding Galaxy Pair Arp 142 Takes Flight

This video begins with a view of the southern constellation Sextans and zooms into the peculiar galaxy Arp 142. A close-up look with the Hubble Space Telescope reveals that the object is really two interacting galaxies. A gravitationally distorted spiral galaxy resembles the...

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Last Updated
Feb 17, 2025
Contact
Media

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

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