Hubble's Cosmic Collisions

With more than 33 years in orbit and 1.5 million observations, Hubble's data offers a wealth of information about the objects in our universe. We've combed through Hubble's extensive archive looking for data that would give us interesting images of interacting galaxies to share. These are a few of our most recent images.

Hubble's New Cosmic Collision Images

Near the top center of the image, a galaxy full of bright blue stars shines. To its lower left is a spiral galaxy, also full of blue stars and dark brown dust. Other distant galaxies and stars fill the black background of space.

Hubble Observes an Askew Galaxy Coaxing Star Formation from its Partner

Arp 300 consists of two galaxies in a gravitational dance.

A glowing pink point of light with diffraction spikes is surrounded by dark dust and faint stars. Two yellowish points of light are visible above and below it, all against black space dotted with intermittent distant galaxies.

Hubble Glimpses a Bright Galaxy Group

This image of LEDA 60847 combines ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared data from Hubble.

Two side-by-side galaxies fill the image. The leftmost galaxy is a bright spiral galaxy bursting with blue stars. The rightmost is a lenticular galaxy, emitting a hazy glow. Distant stars and galaxies dot the background.

Hubble Spies Side-by-Side Galaxies

A barred spiral galaxy and a lenticular galaxy come together to create this interacting pair known as Arp 140.

A galaxy laced through with dark brown dust is viewed edge-on, shining against black space dotted with more distant galaxies. The central galaxy has a hazy bridge of faint stars extending down through the bottom of the image.

Hubble Captures a Faint Bridge of Stars

A faint 250,000-light-year-long bridge of stars and gas stretches between two galaxies in Arp 295.

The lower half of the image is filled with a large spiral galaxy that has a bright white bar of stars at its center. To its upper left, a smaller galaxy shines with bright blue stars. It has an irregular shape, appearing almost like a vertical bar of stars. The rest of the image shows black space interspersed with more distant galaxies and stars.

Hubble Studies a Sparkling Galaxy Pair

The pair lies some 180 million light-years away in the constellation Canes Venatici.

A glowing, white galaxy shines at the center of the image, interlaced with dark brown dust. More distant galaxies and stars fill the black background of space.

Hubble Spies a Spinning Spiral

ESO 420-G013 is a face-on spiral galaxy and a Seyfert galaxy.

A massive spiral galaxy fills the lower left of the image. Spiral arms full of dark brown dust and bright blue stars extend out from the yellow galactic core, all against black space dotted with more distant galaxies and stars.

Hubble Observes a Galactic Distortion

NGC 5427 is part of the galaxy pair called Arp 271.

A scattered grouping of blue and violet stars shines near the lower half of the image. Distant galaxies fill the black background of space, and bright stars with diffraction spikes are visible throughout.

Hubble Captures a Suspected Galaxy Encounter

UGC 3912 is classified as a spiral galaxy … but you wouldn’t know it from this detailed Hubble image.

A bright, purplish galaxy glows at the image’s center, with blue stars interspersed and a blue-white haze extending outward, all against black space dotted with stars and distant galaxies.

Hubble Sees a Merged Galaxy

ESO 185-IG013 is a type of compact galaxy that shows an intense burst of star formation.

Galaxy mergers, hidden spectacles in our vast universe, play a crucial role in shaping cosmic landscapes. Unlock the secrets of these celestial events and the pivotal role of Hubble in capturing their essence.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Lead Producer: James Leigh

Hubble's Cosmic collisions

Galaxy Details and Mergers

Hubble’s observations reveal a menagerie of galaxies.

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Comma shaped curved cloud of gases in bright white edged with bright-pink star forming regions, and threaded with rusty-brown tendrils of dust at center and throughout the comma shaped merger. All set against the black of deep space.

The NASA Hubble Space Telescope has snapped one of the best images of the Antennae Galaxies.

NASA, ESA

In this video, Dr. Jennifer Wiseman explains this breathtaking image and how important Hubble is to exploring the mysteries of the universe. Credits: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/Lead Producer: James Leigh

More Hubble Interacting Galaxy Stories

Hubble News

Article

2 min read

Hubble Captures a Monster Merger

Two spiral galaxies are merging together at the right side of the image. One is seen face-on and is circular in shape. The other seems to lie in front of the first one. This galaxy is seen as a disc tilted away from the viewer and it is partially warped. In the lower-left corner, cut off by the frame, a large elliptical galaxy appears as light radiating from a point. Various small galaxies cover the background.

Article

4 min read

Galaxy Collision Creates ‘Space Triangle’ in New Hubble Image

Two galaxies one right one on the left. right galaxy has a blue-white triangular star forming region surrounding it.

Two blue-white, comma-shaped galaxies: at upper-right and lower-left of center. Streams of diffuse gas stretch between them. Areas of reddish-brown dust dot galaxy at left, less so on galaxy at right. Black background dotted with stars, distant galaxies.

1 min read

Hubble Captures Extraordinarily Bright Interacting Galaxies

Article2 years ago

Two, face-on spiral galaxies. the larger one is centered in the image. the smaller one is superimposed on the upper left side of the larger.

2 min read

Hubble Captures a Peculiar Pair

Article3 years ago

Violent swirl of distorted galaxies with blue lanes of stars, pink star-formation areas and darker filaments of dust

2 min read

NASA Hubble Sees Sparring Antennae Galaxies

Article11 years ago

The Mice Galaxies are a colliding pair of galaxies, that will eventually merge into a single galaxy. They’re located about 300 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices. Credit: NASA, H. Ford (JHU), G. Illingworth (UCSC/LO), M. Clampin (STScI), G. Hartig (STScI), the ACS Science Team, and ESA; Sonification: SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida)

This data sonification of Arp 140 shows a pair of interacting galaxies. Scientists sonified the data in this image, assigning pitch to color for the image as a whole (bluer light is higher, redder is lower). Pitch is mapped to brightness for the resolved stars and background galaxies, based on their apparent size – objects that appear bigger are lower, and smaller are higher in pitch. Brighter light is louder throughout the image. Credit: NASA/ESA/R. Foley (University of California - Santa Cruz)/Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)/Sonification: SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida)

Learn More About Galaxies

A spiral galaxy seen from overhead, with its two major arms spiraling out from its bright white core. At the end of the arm on the right is another bright white blob, this is a second galaxy. The arms are bluish and purple, peppered with countless stars.

Hubble's Galaxies

These collections of stars, planets, gas, dust, and dark matter are the visible foundation of the universe.

The field of view is filled with galaxies in all shapes, sizes, colors, and galaxy types. All against a black backdrop.

Tracing the Growth of Galaxies

Hubble is instrumental in uncovering the various stages of galactic evolution.

Hubble's Deep Fields

Hubble observations forever changed our understanding of the universe, but no single image has reshaped that understanding like the Hubble Deep Field.

Lower left corner: Hubble sits looking toward the upper-right corner where there is a spiral galaxy. Between the two is an image of a large galaxy cluster. Lines drawn from the spiral at upper-right to Hubble illustrate the gravitational lens created by the galaxy cluster.

Shining a Light on Dark Matter

Hubble’s observations of galaxy clusters help us uncover the underlying structure of the universe.

Learn how we make these beautiful images from Hubble data.

Download Hubble e-books

Hubble Focus: Galaxies through Space and Time

Hubble Focus: Galaxies through Space and Time describes some of Hubble’s discoveries about galaxies: from our own Milky Way to the most distant galaxies ever seen. These discoveries help us understand how galaxies evolve and how the universe itself has come to be the way it is today.

Learn More