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GALAXIES COLLIDE: NGC 6872

What makes stretched spiral NGC 6872 so long? Measuring over 700,000 light years from end to end (which is 4 million million million miles!) this is one of the largest barred spirals known. The galaxies elongated shape might have something to do with its continuing collision with the much smaller galaxy IC 4970, the elliptical shape visible just above centre.
Of particular interest is the larger galaxies spiral arm on the upper left which shows an unusually high number of blue star-forming regions. This may have been caused by the recent passage of IC 4970 through it. Notice the short bridge of blue stars linking the two galaxies.
The bright object with four points is a star in our own galaxy (the Milky Way) whose image has been strongly overexposed. There are also many faint galaxies in the field.
The light we see today left these colliding giants before the days of the dinosaurs, about 300 million years ago.
Photo Credit: FORS Team, 8.2 meter VLT ANTU, ESO