Intersecting Galaxies

Since its launch in 1990, Hubble has had a remarkable career. The Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxies are predicted to collide and merge at some point in the future (although some data indicates that the process may have already begun). Andromeda, the constellation, not the galaxy, comes to mind. This picture shows ARP 273, a collision between two galaxies 300 million light-years away from our tiny, meager solar system.

While some sources claim that this interaction resulted in the formation of what appears to be a lovely rose or flower, other sources describe the galaxy that makes up the "stem" of the flower as performing a terrifying kamikaze dive into the other spiral galaxy. The active distortion of both galaxies into their present shapes by gravitational forces gives us a glimpse of what might occur once the Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxy are farther along in their merger.