Author: Travis Pittman, TEGNA
Just in time for Halloween, NASA has released a new image from the Hubble Space Telescope of two colliding galaxies that brings a perfect creepy factor for the holiday. One could say it resembles the hockey-masked Jason Voorhees from “Friday The 13th.”
The image, taken June 19, appears to show two glowing eyes staring toward Earth.
NASA says each “eye” is the core of a different galaxy that slammed into each other. Surrounding them is the outline of a face made up of young, blue stars. Other new stars appear to show a nose and mouth.
The entire system is named Arp-Madore 2026-424 (AM 2026-424).
NASA says galaxy collisions are common, but most are not “head-on smashups” like this one. The ring that makes up the face is a short-lived phenomenon by the universe’s standards — just 100 million years.
The two galaxies will merge into one, but don’t hold your breath. That will take a couple billion years. And visiting it is not an option as it is 704 million light years from Earth.
