ABOUT THIS IMAGE:

NGC 6670 is a gorgeous pair of overlapping edge-on galaxies resembling a leaping dolphin. Scientists believe that NGC 6670 has already experienced at least one close encounter and is now in the early stages of a second. The nuclei of the two galaxies are approximately 50,000 light-years apart. NGC 6670 glows in the infrared with more than a hundred billion times the luminosity of our Sun and is thought to be entering a starburst phase. The pair is located some 400 million light-years away from Earth.

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 24th April 2008.

Object Names: NGC 6670, NGC 6670A/B, VII Zw 812

Image Type: Astronomical

Credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration, and A. Evans (University of Virginia, Charlottesville/NRAO/Stony Brook University)

Technical facts about this image:

NEWS RELEASE IMAGES

The above image is part of a montage:

Montage Image: Cosmic Collisions Galore! Image Type: Astronomical PRC2008-16a

Hubble Interacting Galaxy Arp 148 Image Type: Astronomical

Hubble Interacting Galaxy UGC 9618 Image Type: Astronomical

Hubble Interacting Galaxy Arp 256 Image Type: Astronomical

Hubble Interacting Galaxy NGC 6240 Image Type: Astronomical

Hubble Interacting Galaxy ESO 593-8 Image Type: Astronomical

Hubble Interacting Galaxy NGC 454 Image Type: Astronomical

Hubble Interacting Galaxy UGC 8335 Image Type: Astronomical

Hubble Interacting Galaxy NGC 6786 Image Type: Astronomical

Hubble Interacting Galaxy NGC 17 Image Type: Astronomical

Hubble Interacting Galaxy ESO 77-14 Image Type: Astronomical

Hubble Interacting Galaxy NGC 6050 Image Type: Astronomical

All images from this news release:

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