Hubble telescope's picture shows two galaxies interacting; ESA explains what's going on

The Hubble Space Telescope’s treasure trove, apart from vast amounts of data, consists of countless breathtaking images of the cosmic entities which often go viral. The European Space Agency (ESA), which has been a contributor to Webb’s development besides NASA, has shared another stop-and-stare image showing three massive galaxies. In this Hubble image, which was taken using both its Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and Wide Field Camera 3, two of these galaxies appear to be interacting with each other as if they underwent a head-on collision.

Did the galaxies really collide?

While the two galaxies in the upper right hand do appear to have undergone a collision, ESA says that it is not the case. The three galaxies visible in the picture represent NGC 7764A1, NGC 7764A2 and NGC 7764A3 and all three of them are collectively known as NGC 7764A. As for the interaction between the upper two galaxies, the illusion is created owing to the long trails of stars and gas extending from both entities. "In reality, however, interactions between galaxies happen over very long time periods, and galaxies rarely collide head-on with one another", the agency said in a report.

The NGC 7764A, which is a collection of the three galaxies lies in the constellation Phoenix and lies about 425 million light-years from Earth. ESA, however, said that it is not clear if the lone galaxy on the left-hand side is interacting with the other two galaxies. Although it added that since the one on the left is relatively closer to the pair, it might be influencing and getting influenced, which in turn might have caused the pair to take this shape. "The collective interaction between these galaxies have caused the two on the upper right to form a shape, which from our Solar System's perspective, resembles the starship known as the USS Enterprise from Star Trek!", ESA said.