stsci_2008-16cb April 25th, 2008
Credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration, and A. Evans (University of Virginia, Charlottesville/NRAO/Stony Brook University)
UGC 4881, known as the "The Grasshopper," is a stunning system consisting of two colliding galaxies. It has a bright curly tail containing a remarkable number of star clusters. The galaxies are thought to be halfway through a mergerthe cores of the parent galaxies are still clearly separated, but their disks are overlapping. A supernova exploded in this system in 1999 and astronomers believe that a vigorous burst of star formation may have just started. This notable object is located in the constellation of Lynx, some 500 million light-years away from Earth. UGC 4881 is the 55th galaxy in Arp's Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies.
Provider: Space Telescope Science Institute
Image Source: https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2008/news-2008-16
Curator: STScI, Baltimore, MD, USA
Image Use Policy: http://hubblesite.org/copyright/
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