Beautiful Photo Captures Colliding Galaxies

A lot of people will say that falling in love is like two worlds colliding, and this is actually a perfect metaphor for a literal event. In the far reaches of the universe, the Hubble Space Telescope was able to capture a beautiful, seemingly tranquil scene illuminating the cosmos -- but it is far from that. In fact, it could even be chaotic.

The image was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys. The telescope itself was launched by NASA in 1990 and celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2015. It is operated by NASA and the European Space Agency and is considered a discovery by both agencies as a joint project.

Space.com reported that two gas-rich spiral galaxies are seen to collide in slow motion. The crash, known as IRAS 14348-1447 (after the Infrared Astronomical Satellite that discovered it), was imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope. It is said to be located over a billion lightyears away from Earth. Known as an ultraluminous infrared galaxy, it comes with a category of cosmic entities that are known for shining brightly and distinctively in the infrared spectrum.

In a statement cited by ABC News Australia, NASA said that the doomed duo have in fact approached each other closely in the past, causing their gravities to affect and tug at each other, and they "slowly, destructively, merge into one."

The agency also noted that the huge amount of molecular gas within IRAS 14348-1447 fuels the emission, leading it to undergo "a number of dynamical processes as it interacts and moves around." The same gases are also responsible for its whirling, "ethereal appeance" that created the tails and wisps leading away from its main body.

Beautiful as it seems, the collision of the IRAS galaxies is not the first to be observed. In fact, collisions are pretty common, especially during galaxy evolution. Colliding does not also necessarily mean that these galaxies will destroy each other. In some cases, they can lead to merging if they do not have enough momentum to continue on their way after the collision.

According to Phys.org, even our own Milky Way galaxy is on a collision course with its nearest neighbor, Andromeda. However, people need not be scared or anything because of this phenomenon.