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Hubble Captures Galaxy in the Making

A slow, graceful zoom moving deeper into the nighttime sky descends on an image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys. Nicknamed the "Spiderweb Galaxy," MRC 1138-262 shows dozens of star-forming satellite galaxies as individual clumpy features in the process of merging. This galaxy, which is 10.6 billion light-years away, shows the universe's formative years, only 3 billion years after the Big Bang.
  • Release Date
    October 12, 2006
  • Science Release
    Hubble Captures Galaxy in the Making
    Read the release
  • Credit
    NASA, ESA, and M. Kornmesser (ESA)

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Hubble Captures Galaxy in the Making

Hubble Captures Galaxy in the Making

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Last Updated
Mar 28, 2025
Contact
Media

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

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