Pretty space picture: Twin Telescopes, Twin Galaxies

It’s been far too long since the Great Beyond had a pretty space picture. Today’s is newly released by the Gemini Observatory and shows conjoined spiral galaxies 90 million light years away and 60,000 light years apart.

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NGC 5427 (left) and NGC 5426 (right) are linked by an “intergalactic bridge” which the observatory says acts as a feeding tube so they can share gas and dust. They’re already too close for comfort and the observatory’s press release says “the mutual pull of gravity has already begun to alter and distort their visible features”.

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