Top: a distorted spiral galaxy. One of its spiral arms extends in a sweeping arc below the galaxy. Below this spiral is another edge-on galaxy extending from the lower left toward image center.

Arp 273

This image of a pair of interacting galaxies called Arp 273 was released to celebrate the 21st anniversary of the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope. The distorted shape of the larger of the two galaxies shows signs of tidal interactions with the smaller of the two. It is thought that the smaller galaxy has actually passed through the larger one.

Credits: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)