Interacting Galaxies with an Onlooker (2013)

This is another set of galaxies from the same study done on this one. This one was a bit easier to process. An interesting thing to note is that the left galaxy of the interacting pair is quite a bit more red than the one on the right. Unless my understanding is incorrect, that means it’s farther away. So, even though the one on the right appears a bit larger, it could be quite a bit smaller. The stream of stars connecting the two galaxies is likely foreshortened which helps in perceiving the depth of this situation. Meanwhile, any observers who happen to be in the galaxy below have a great view of the interacting pair but it must look quite a bit different from their vantage point.

Red: hst_11643_07_wfc3_uvis_f625w_sci
Green: hst_11643_07_wfc3_uvis_f438w_sci
Blue: hst_11643_07_wfc3_uvis_f336w_sci

North is up.

Copyright information:
Hubble data is public domain, but I put a lot of work into combining it into beautiful color images. The minimal credit line should read: NASA / ESA / J. Schmidt

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.