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The two spiral galaxies are about 60 million light-years from Earth.


Astronomers at the Gemini North telescope in Hawai’i have released a stunning image that shows two spiral galaxies in the process of colliding and merging.

The clashing galaxies NGC 4,568 and NGC 4,567 — also known as the Butterfly galaxies due to the dual-lobed shape their interaction causes — are located 60 million light-years away from Earth in the Virgo Cluster and will form a brand new elliptical galaxy in around 500 million years, according to a statement from NOIRLab, which operates the Gemini North telescope.

A team of scientists obtained a magnificent photograph of a faraway galaxy, reminding us all how little we are in the grand scheme of things.

This monster galaxy’ is around 12 billion light-years away from Earth and produces new stars 1,000 times faster than our own Milky Way galaxy.

Scientists utilized the £1.1 billion ALMA Observatory in Chile to capture views of the galaxy with a resolution ten times better than any previous attempt, naming it ‘COSMOS-AzTEC-1.’