Hubble Telescope: Images of Three Galaxies merging captured

The powerful Telescope has captured an image of the galaxy merger IC 2431, which is happening over 618 million light years away from the Earth.

The image encapsulate a mixture of star formation and tidal distortions that are caused by the gravitational interactions of the three galaxies.

Even though the galaxies are merging with each other, there will be very few instances of celestial bodies crashing since they are spaced so far apart.

When galaxies combine, they lose their own shape to form a new, usually elliptical shape.

And when galaxies collide into each other, sometimes they result in the formation of new stars.

According to ESA, the image is part of the Galaxy Zoo citizen science project that investigates “weird and wonderful” galaxies from Hubble observations.