The Hubble Space Telescope was used to image a rare photo of two galaxies on their way to colliding, and has been published on the NASA website.
According to the explanation provided, the object, named UGC 2369, is actually two galaxies moving towards each other. While the galactic cores are still relatively far apart, the galaxies have already connected with a bridge of gas, dust and stars, as their mutual gravitational pull rips matter from each other.
This is UGC 2369, seen by NASA/ESA @HUBBLE_space. It's actually two galaxies interacting, being pulled closer together by their gravitational attraction, in a similar process that will see our galaxy, the Milky Way, collide with the Andromeda galaxy. See https://t.co/ZzsB04tVNr pic.twitter.com/bDAtydgWSl
— ESA (@esa) August 5, 2019
Astronomers explain that something like this will happen to our own galaxy, the Milky Way, which is set on a collision course with the Andromeda Galaxy. Scientists say the collision will occur in approximately 4.5 billion years.
