--- title: Space: NASA Photo Shows Two Galaxies Colliding description: They're forming into a new galaxy canonical: https://time.com/4182526/hubble-galaxy-collision-photo/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-15T16:27:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T14:10:37.120Z article:section: Science og:title: Space: NASA Photo Shows Two Galaxies Colliding og:description: They're forming into a new galaxy og:url: https://time.com/4182526/hubble-galaxy-collision-photo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt664f6af802f816b5/69887951cd1bba37366fef88/hubble_friday_01152016.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: A galactic mega-merger og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Space: NASA Photo Shows Two Galaxies Colliding twitter:description: They're forming into a new galaxy twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt664f6af802f816b5/69887951cd1bba37366fef88/hubble_friday_01152016.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # New Photo Shows 2 Galaxies Colliding  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jan 15, 2016 4:27 PM CUT  The subject of this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is known as NGC 3597\. It is the product of a collision between two good-sized galaxies, and is slowly evolving to become a giant elliptical galaxy. This type of galaxy has grown more and more common as the Universe has evolved, with initially small galaxies merging and progressively building up into larger galactic structures over time. NGC 3597 is located approximately 150 million light-years away in the constellation of Crater (The Cup). Astronomers study NGC 3597 to learn more about how elliptical galaxies form — many ellipticals began their lives far earlier in the history of the Universe. Older ellipticals are nicknamed “red and dead” by astronomers because these bloated galaxies are not anymore producing new, bluer, stars in ages, and are thus packed full of old and redder stellar populations. Before infirmity sets in, some freshly formed elliptical galaxies experience a final flush of youth, as is the case with NGC 3597\. Galaxies smashing together pool their available gas and dust, triggering new rounds of star birth. Some of this material ends up in dense pockets initially called proto-globular clusters, dozens of which festoon NGC 3597\. These pockets will go on to collapse and form fully-fledged globular clusters, large spheres that orbit the centres of galaxies like satellites, packed tightly full of millions of stars. The subject of this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is known as NGC 3597\. It is the product of a collision between two good-sized galaxies, and is slowly evolving to become a giant elliptical galaxy. This type of galaxy has grown more and more common as the Universe has evolved, with initially small galaxies merging and progressively building up into larger galactic structures over time. NGC 3597 is located approximately 150 million light-years away in the constellation of Crater (The Cup). Astronomers study NGC 3597 to learn more about how elliptical galaxies form — many ellipticals began their lives far earlier in the history of the Universe. Older ellipticals are nicknamed “red and dead” by astronomers because these bloated galaxies are not anymore producing new, bluer, stars in ages, and are thus packed full of old and redder stellar populations. Before infirmity sets in, some freshly formed elliptical galaxies experience a final flush of youth, as is the case with NGC 3597\. Galaxies smashing together pool their available gas and dust, triggering new rounds of star birth. Some of this material ends up in dense pockets initially called proto-globular clusters, dozens of which festoon NGC 3597\. These pockets will go on to collapse and form fully-fledged globular clusters, large spheres that orbit the centres of galaxies like satellites, packed tightly full of millions of stars.ESA/Hubble/NASA  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jan 15, 2016 4:27 PM CUT The Hubble space telescope has [picked up](https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2016/hubble-views-a-galactic-mega-merger "undefined") this stunning images of two [galaxies](http://time.com/4172276/nasa-galaxy-cluster-photo/ "undefined") colliding and becoming one single cluster of stars. According to NASA, the two galaxies shown colliding in the [photo](http://time.com/4167371/alphabet-from-space/ "undefined") are gradually forming into a giant elliptical galaxy called NGC 3597, located about 150 million light-years away. Elliptical galaxies like NGC 3597 have grown more common over the universe’s history because, as time goes on, small galaxies gradually combine and build into larger structures. And while the galaxies in the photo did collide in a technical sense, it’s important to note that the stars rarely ever actually “touch” each other, but rather form into the same large group. **Read More:** [Astronomers Discover Supernova at Least 20 Times Brighter Than Milky Way](http://time.com/4181650/supernova-discovered-brighter-milky-way/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4182526/hubble-galaxy-collision-photo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4182526/hubble-galaxy-collision-photo/"},"headline":"New Photo Shows 2 Galaxies Colliding","datePublished":"2016-01-15T16:27:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T14:10:37.120Z","description":"They're forming into a new galaxy","url":"https://time.com/4182526/hubble-galaxy-collision-photo/","keywords":["Space"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt664f6af802f816b5/69887951cd1bba37366fef88/hubble_friday_01152016.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt664f6af802f816b5/69887951cd1bba37366fef88/hubble_friday_01152016.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A galactic mega-merger","caption":"A galactic mega-merger","creditText":"ESA/Hubble/NASA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4182526/hubble-galaxy-collision-photo/","name":"New Photo Shows 2 Galaxies Colliding"}}]}] ```