                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2021 October 4

                         NGC 4676: When Mice Collide
      Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble; Processing & Copyright: William
                     Ostling (The Astronomy Enthusiast)

   Explanation: These two mighty galaxies are pulling each other apart.
   Known as the "Mice" because they have such long tails, each spiral
   galaxy has likely already passed through the other. The long tails are
   created by the relative difference between gravitational pulls on the
   near and far parts of each galaxy. Because the distances are so large,
   the cosmic interaction takes place in slow motion -- over hundreds of
   millions of years. NGC 4676 lies about 300 million light-years away
   toward the constellation of Bernice's Hair (Coma Berenices) and are
   likely members of the Coma Cluster of Galaxies. The featured picture
   was taken with the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys
   in 2002. These galactic mice will probably collide again and again over
   the next billion years so that, instead of continuing to pull each
   other apart, they coalesce to form a single galaxy.

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