The Hubble Space Telescope has captured a rare image of three galaxies possibly interacting with each other.
Collectively known as NGC 7764A, the galaxy cluster is about 425 million light years from Earth.
It is in the Phoenix constellation, named after a mythical bird that is consumed by fire and then reborn from the ashes.
The European Space Agency said the image gives the impression that the two galaxies in the upper right side of the frame are interacting with one another.
Interactions between galaxies are common and happen when they drift too close to each other, causing their gravitational fields to be disturbed.
A major interaction would be when galaxies eventually collide, allowing the larger one to destroy the smaller one, and ultimately forming a much larger galaxy.
Astronomers have predicted that the Milky Way galaxy, home to Earth, will collide with the neighbouring Andromeda galaxy about four billion years from now.
“The long trails of stars and gas extending from them give the impression that they have both just been struck at great speed, thrown into disarray by the bowling-ball-shaped galaxy to the lower left of the image,” the space agency said on its website.
“In reality, interactions between galaxies happen over very long time periods, and galaxies rarely collide head-on with one another.
“It is also unclear whether the galaxy to the lower left is interacting with the other two, although they are so relatively close in space that it seems possible that they are.”
The view of NGC 7764A is among the tens of thousands of images that the Hubble telescope has captured since it was launched in 1990.
It has contributed to solving many mysteries of space, including by helping scientists to pin down the age of the universe, the rate at which the universe is expanding, discovering two Moons of Pluto and capturing detailed images of nebulas.
The most distant galaxies discovered so far have been found by Hubble. However, the telescope cannot see the very first galaxies of the universe.
Its successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, will help fill in those gaps.
The $10 billion Webb telescope, which took more than 20 years to build, arrived at its home in space last week and will begin operations by the summer.
It should be able to see more than 13.5 billion light years away and capture data concerning the birth of the universe.
The farthest galaxy discovered so far by Hubble is GN-z11, which is about 13.4 billion light years away.
Fascinating images of space - in pictures
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Engine: 2-litre 4-cylinder and 3.6-litre 6-cylinder
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F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Specs
Engine: 2-litre
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 255hp
Torque: 273Nm
Price: Dh240,000
The Gandhi Murder
- 71 - Years since the death of MK Gandhi, also christened India's Father of the Nation
- 34 - Nationalities featured in the film The Gandhi Murder
- 7 - million dollars, the film's budget
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Company name: baraka
Started: July 2020
Founders: Feras Jalbout and Kunal Taneja
Based: Dubai and Bahrain
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: $150,000
Current staff: 12
Stage: Pre-seed capital raising of $1 million
Investors: Class 5 Global, FJ Labs, IMO Ventures, The Community Fund, VentureSouq, Fox Ventures, Dr Abdulla Elyas (private investment)
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Should late investors consider cryptocurrencies?
Wealth managers recommend late investors to have a balanced portfolio that typically includes traditional assets such as cash, government and corporate bonds, equities, commodities and commercial property.
They do not usually recommend investing in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies due to the risk and volatility associated with them.
“It has produced eye-watering returns for some, whereas others have lost substantially as this has all depended purely on timing and when the buy-in was. If someone still has about 20 to 25 years until retirement, there isn’t any need to take such risks,” Rupert Connor of Abacus Financial Consultant says.
He adds that if a person is interested in owning a business or growing a property portfolio to increase their retirement income, this can be encouraged provided they keep in mind the overall risk profile of these assets.
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Day 2
England: 277 & 19-0
West Indies: 154
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Andre Bikey (Jamshedpur) The Cameroonian defender is onto the 17th club of a career has taken him to Spain, Portugal, Russia, the UK, Greece, and now India. He is still only 32, so there is plenty of time to add to that tally, too. Scored goals against Liverpool and Chelsea during his time with Reading in England.
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Dubai Bling season three
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Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
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Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
The story in numbers
18
This is how many recognised sects Lebanon is home to, along with about four million citizens
450,000
More than this many Palestinian refugees are registered with UNRWA in Lebanon, with about 45 per cent of them living in the country’s 12 refugee camps
1.5 million
There are just under 1 million Syrian refugees registered with the UN, although the government puts the figure upwards of 1.5m
73
The percentage of stateless people in Lebanon, who are not of Palestinian origin, born to a Lebanese mother, according to a 2012-2013 study by human rights organisation Frontiers Ruwad Association
18,000
The number of marriages recorded between Lebanese women and foreigners between the years 1995 and 2008, according to a 2009 study backed by the UN Development Programme
77,400
The number of people believed to be affected by the current nationality law, according to the 2009 UN study
4,926
This is how many Lebanese-Palestinian households there were in Lebanon in 2016, according to a census by the Lebanese-Palestinian dialogue committee
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