Hubble captures overlapping galaxies billions of light years across

“Despite appearing to collide in this image, the alignment of the two galaxies is likely just coincidental. The two are not actually merging,” ESA officials wrote in the statement. “While these two galaxies may be ships, passing by night, Hubble has captured a dazzling array of interacting galaxies in the past.”

The coincidental alignment of the two galaxies provides an extremely spectacular front-up view of the denser galaxy with spiral arms extending and curling on either side of the galaxy.

The latest image, shared by ESA on September 5, was made using observations from the space agency’s Galaxy Zoo project. The Galaxy Zoo Project is a citizen science-based initiative that started in 2007 to crowdsource the classification of galaxies to hundreds of thousands of volunteers.

“These volunteers classify galaxies imaged by robotic telescopes and are often the first to ever see an astronomical object.” ESA officials wrote in their statement.

The volunteers of the Galaxy Zoo project have helped discover all sorts of interesting celestial bodies and objects, from unusual three-armed spiral galaxies to colliding ring galaxies. The volunteers decide through a public vote which targets are chosen for further investigation by Hubble.

Other wondrous sights revealed by the Hubble Space Telescope include stunning new images of young and old stars glittering in the sky like bright multicolored gems. This amazing image is of the Liller 1 globular cluster and can make anyone stop and contemplate the beauty of the universe.