Ripples of a Galactic Merger

Published 10 hours ago
Source: theatlantic.com
Ripples of a Galactic Merger
A bright white core of a galaxy sits inside broad halo of light (stars), ringed by darker-colored undulating lanes of dust.
ESA / Hubble & NASA, L. Kelsey

Day 14 of the 2025 Space Telescope Advent Calendar: Ripples of a Galactic Merger. The Hubble Space Telescope recently gathered this image of lenticular galaxy NGC 4753, about 60 million light-years away. Scientists believe this object to be the result of an earlier merging of two galaxies, which is still flattening and throwing off waves of dust lanes.

See the full advent calendar here, where a new image will be revealed each day until December 25.