When Galaxies Collide: Mice Galaxy Collisions

The Mice galaxies, also known as NGC 4676, are two sweeping objects undergoing the earliest stages of merging.

Already, one galaxy has swept past the other, creating a long tail of stars that sticks out to the right.

The pair can bee seen in the constellation Coma Berenices and are approximately 300 million light-years away.

Image: NASA, H. Ford (JHU), G. Illingworth (UCSC/LO), M. Clampin (STSci), G. Hartig (STSci), and the ACS Science Team