You know, there is no reason not to just keep going with the pretty science. This is a space show after all, and space is filled with all kinds of shiny, pretty, stuff. 

In our next stop through the universe, we bring you the merging galaxy pair Arp 91. This system consists of two large spiral galaxies that are gravitationally pulling one another together. It is still early days in this particular merger, and these galaxies don’t yet show very much distortion. 

When galaxies merge together, it isn’t a single collision; rather the systems come together and pass through one another, before being drawn back together again over and over. These passages can trigger star formation such as is seen in a new image from Hubble Space Telescope. It can also use up or knock out of the galaxies a lot of the remaining material that didn’t form stars. In the end, where we see two, dusty, star-forming galaxies today, there will be one large, no longer forming stars, red elliptical galaxy.

More Information

NASA image release