ESO 148-2
Date: 24 April 2008
Satellite: Hubble Space Telescope
Depicts: ESO 148-2
Copyright: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration and A. Evans (University of Virginia, Charlottesville/NRAO/Stony Brook University)
ESO 148-2 consists of a pair of former disc galaxies undergoing a collision. The cores of the two individual galaxies - seen at the centre of the image - are embedded in hot dust and contain a large number of stars. Two huge wings sweep out from the centre and curve in opposite directions. These are tidal tails of stars and gas that have been pulled from the easily distorted discs of the galaxies. ESO 148-2 is one of the most luminous infrared galaxies known and is located some 600 million light-years away from Earth.
This image is part of a large collection of 59 images of merging galaxies taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and released on the occasion of its 18th anniversary on 24 April 2008.
Last Update: 1 September 2019
