Hubble
Interacting Galaxy ESO 507-70
Interacting Galaxies
RA 13h 02m 52.49s Dec -23° 55' 19.6"
Hydra
300 million light-years (100 million parsecs)
ACS/WFC
February 25, 2002
33 minutes
F435W (B) and F814W (I)
NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration, and A. Evans (U of Virginia, Charlottesville/NRAO/Stony Brook University)
April 24, 2008
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the image to buy a print
ABOUT THIS IMAGE:
ESO 507-70 is an odd-looking galaxy that is probably the remnant of an earlier merger process. It is a chaotic swirl of gas, dust and stars with no sign of the conjectured original spiral or elliptical structure, now lost and distorted beyond recognition in a gravitational encounter with another galaxy. ESO 507-70 is some 300 million light-years away from Earth toward the constellation of Hydra, the Water Snake.
This
image is part of a large collection of 59 images of merging galaxies taken
by the Hubble Space Telescope and released on the occasion of its 18th
anniversary on April 24, 2008.