NASA / ESA’s Hubble Space Telescope captures Arp 72, a peculiar galaxy group that only includes two interactive galaxies: NGC 5996 (the large spiral galaxy) and NGC 5994 (its smaller companion in the lower left).
Both NGC 5996 and NGC 5994 are located approximately 160 million light-years from Earth, while their cores are separated from each other by a distance of approximately 67 thousand light-years. While it may not appear as such, the distance between the galaxies at their closest points is even smaller, or 40 thousand light-years.
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A large spiral galaxy with a smaller neighboring galaxy. The spiral galaxy is wide and distorted, with colorful dust. Its companion lies close by it at the end of a spiral arm, to the lower left. A long, faint tail of stars reaches up from the right side of the spiral galaxy to the top of the image. Several small, distant galaxies can be seen in the background, as well as one bright star in the foreground,” said the European Space Agency.
