Collision galaxy NGC 520 - Galaxy NGC 520 in Pisces - The galaxy NGC 520,...

Collision galaxy NGC 520 - Galaxy NGC 520 in Pisces - The galaxy NGC 520, is about 100 million light years away from Earth in the constellation Pisces. This system consists of two colliding galaxies. The merger started 300 million years ago. The two galaxies are only in the middle of this process, their disk having merged but not yet their kernel. NGC 520 is among the brightest pairs of galaxies, and is visible with a small telescope. Image obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope on October 22, 2004. NGC 520 is the product of a collision between two disk galaxies that started 300 million years ago. It examplifies the middle stages of the merging process: the disks of the parent galaxies have merged together, but the nuclei have not yet coalesced. It features an odd - looking tail of stars and a prominent dust lane that runs diagonally across the center of the image and obscures the galaxy. NGC 520 is one of the brightest galaxy pairs on the sky, and can be observed with a small telescope towards the constellation of Pisces, the Fish, having the appearance of a comet. It is about 100 million light - years away and about 100,000 light - years across. The galaxy pair is included in ARP's catalog of peculiar galaxies as Arp 157. Image taken by the Hubble space telescope on october 22nd, 2004