Chandra Release - August 11, 2011

Visual Description: VV 340

The image features a striking pair of galaxies called VV 340, with one galaxy at the top being larger than the other underneath it. Data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory (colored purple) are included here along with optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope (red, green, blue). The larger galaxy is more purple in color, while the smaller galaxy is blue and purple-pink. The two galaxies appear close to each other in the image, making a shape like a cosmic exclamation mark, or perhaps a flower. VV 340 provides a textbook example of colliding galaxies seen in the early stages of their interaction. The edge-on galaxy near the top of the image is VV 340 North and the face-on galaxy at the bottom of the image is VV 340 South. Millions of years later these two spirals will merge — much like the Milky Way and Andromeda will likely do billions of years from now. VV 340 is located about 450 million light years from Earth.